Las Cruces ranks 32nd on the 2017 list of safest cities in America by the personal finance website WalletHub.com. El Paso, TX came in at number 38 and Albuquerque, NM at 112.
The city of Las Cruces released this statement:
According to the Las Cruces Police Department’s 2016 annual crime statistics, violent crime and property crime were both down six-percent.
“Being the leading safe city in our region demonstrates our commitment to creating and maintaining a safe and comforting environment for our residents and guests,” said City Manager Stuart C. Ed. “But we are striving to do better. I compliment the women and men of the Las Cruces Police Department for their commitment to duty. Through their efforts and public partnership through the principles of community policing, we will continue to improve our service delivery.” Ed also extended his thanks to police chief Jaime Montoya who retires at the end of this month following 26 years of service. “Chief Montoya was instrumental in Las Cruces obtaining this ranking. His leadership resulted in many positive outcomes.” In addition, Ed thanked the families of law enforcement for the ongoing support they give those in uniform each and every day.
WalletHub reports that its analysts compared 182 cities - including the 150 most populated U.S. cities - across three key dimensions: 1) Home & Community Safety, 2) Financial Safety, and 3) Natural-Disaster Risk.
WalletHub states it evaluated those dimensions using 35 relevant metrics with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of safety.
They then determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its total score and used the resulting scores to rank-order their sample. In determining their sample, WalletHub considered only the city proper in each case, excluding cities in the surrounding metro area.
More information at https://wallethub.com/edu/