Safe Communuity: Canton Among The Best In America

CANTON, MI — Canton is among the safest cities in America, according to Alarms.com. The National Council for Home Safety and Security’s website ranked the top 100 safest cities based on violent crime and property crime per 100,000 residents, among other factors. Canton was named the country’s 65th safest city.

Canton was the only Wayne County community to make the list. Six Oakland County communities placed in the top 100 as did three Macomb County cities.

“Canton Township is just west of Detroit and is home to 89,628 residents,” Alarms.com wrote in describing the community. “Michigan’s ‘Community of Vision’ is home to Heritage Park, which is a perfect place for running and biking as well as having a splash park to help families cool off during the summer. Cherry Hill is bringing back the historical character of the area by renovating the architecture of what the city was like 100 years ago with the Village Theatre as one of its main attractions.”

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Alarms.com sites the FBI for its statistics, on which the rankings are based. Violent crime, the website writes, has been decreasing over the past 10 years — some 16.5 percent from 2006 to 2015 — while property crime rates continue to gradually fall by about 2 percent per year.

In Canton, that translates to 119 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Property crimes are at a much higher rate, at 1,097 per 100,000. By comparison, West Bloomfield Township — ranked as Michigan's safest town and ninth in the nation — recorded 51 violent crimes per 100,000 and just 453 property crimes per 100,000. The safest town in America title went to Thornton, Colorado.

Six communities from Oakland County made the list, including Rochester Hills (13), West Bloomfield (9), Novi (48), Farmington Hills (44), Royal Oak (38) and Waterford (58) Township. Canton Township (65) was the only Wayne County community to make the list. Macomb County’s Sterling Heights ranked 84th, St. Clair Shores 81st and Shelby Township was rated at 27th.

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