Long Valley Named One Of NJ's Safest Towns For 2019

LONG VALLEY, NJ — Washington Township (Morris) has been named the third safest city in New Jersey in a new study done by the National Council for Home Safety and Security.

Washington earned top marks on the total number of crimes at just 45, and the total number of violent crimes at just three. The town logged no murders in 2018. The crime rate is also very low: there are just .002 crimes per 1,000 residents, and .16 violent crimes per 1,000.

Washington is no stranger to earning top safety marks. Safewise, CreditDonkey, and ValuePenguin have all named Washington one of New Jersey's safest towns over the years, with SafeWise naming it the fourth safest in all of America in 2016.

Lt. Douglas Compton said Washington's perennially high rankings boil down to a hardworking police force and a community that follows the advice of "see something, say something."

"I think we work well with our community, it's not only us out there patrolling the streets. We have community citizens who when they see something, they always let us know if something's not fitting in right. I think it's really a tribute to all the officers all 31 of them here, that they work day in and day out, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Compton said.

"The credit has to go to all the officers that work for the Washington Township Police Department, that come here every day and make the community what it is," Compton said.

The town was listed below only River Vale and Warren Township. It was one of two from Morris County in the top ten; Chatham Township ranked seventh safest with no violent crimes reported.

"Thank you to all the law enforcement and the people of Long Valley for keeping us the greatest place to live and work in NJ," Mayor Matt Murello said.

These rankings are done based on the FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics. Any town with less than 10,000 residents is excluded, as are any cities that did not submit a complete crime report to the FBI.

Image via WTPD