Westford Named Among Safest Towns in Massachusetts

WESTFORD, MA - It’s another good year to live in Westford; when it comes to public safety, Westford is once again among the top.

SafeWise has once again named Westford the 13th safest town in the Commonwealth on its 2016 list of the 20 safest towns in Massachusetts. Westford came in at No. 13 in 2015 as well.

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“This demonstrates the commitment of the public safety personnel employed in town and the excellent working relationship that exists between the police and fire departments and the community we serve,” Wayland Police Chief Robert Irving said in a statement.

SafeWise, a community-focused security organization committed to increasing safety education, awareness, and preparedness, reviewed 2014 FBI Crime Report statistics, the most recent available, and population data to rank the municipalities. Cities with fewer than 8,000 residents and those that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI were eliminated.

After that, SafeWise narrowed down its list based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in each city and calculated the likelihood of these crimes occurring out of 1,000 people in each city. (View the full methodology)

According to the data SafeWise published, Westford suffered .5 violent crimes and 4.4 property crimes per 1,000 residents.