Playing It Safe

Ridgefield takes top spot as “Safest City”

What does it mean to be the safest city in America? According to Neighborhood Scout, you can ask Ridgefield, Connecticut, as they ranked as their safest city in America for the first time ever.

Beating out Franklin, Massachusetts for the top spot, Ridgefield took the top spot on the list with an overall crime rate of 1.9 per 1,000 population – making it safer than 92% of U.S. Cities. While several towns in the Northeast did make the list alongside these two, only five Connecticut towns were selected among the “Safe 100.” They included Wallingford, Cheshire, Greenwich, and New Milford, in order of appearance.

The ranking takes cities with 25,000 or more people and uses FBI data to give each a ranking by “Total Crime Rate.” While this list is not meant to shame any city that does not end up on the list, it’s also important to note that the site is frequently asked why certain “dangerous cities” end up on the list. They respond that “Some cities have reputations for being dangerous that are not supported by crime statistics.”

Commenting on the declaration to Patch.com, First Selectman Rudy Marconi noted that Ridgefield has been a quiet town “for many, many years,” continuing that “The police do an excellent job. Understanding situations and discussing situations and not necessarily taking the hard position, ‘You broke the law, that’s it, period, you’re under arrest.’”

As noted in the Patch article, most of the cities on this list benefit from the low population threshold. Ridgefield itself just “squeaked by” with 25,011 residents, just 11 more than the population threshold. According to their figures, the median population of towns in the top 100 is 32,000, and only Carmel, Indiana made the list as a city with a population over 100,000.

No matter what, at the end of the day creating a town is something that is done collectively. First Selectman Marconi said that Ridgefield is a lot of “Young people raising their families in a town that appreciates respect.” It’s not just cops or residents or town workers, but everyone working together. There will always be more work to do, but it’s important to celebrate successes like these to show that it is possible to make our state the best it can be. In Ridgefield, First Selectman Rudy Marconi says it’s about respect – and that is true in every town and city in this state. When we remember to respect each other, we respect ourselves and our towns.