BEAVERTON AMONG SAFEST CITIES REPORT SAYS

The City of Beaverton announced Jan. 24 that a recently released annual report ranks it in the top 50 in low crime rates among U.S. cities with populations of at least 75,000. (Everton Bailey Jr./The Oregonian)

Beaverton is among the top 50 U.S. cities with the lowest crime rates, according to an annual nationwide crime ranking report.
The City of Beaverton announced Friday that it ranked 42nd among U.S. cities with populations of at least 75,000 in the CQ Press' "City Crime Rankings 2014: Crime in Metropolitan America."
It was the highest ranking of any city in Oregon and the seventh consecutive year Beaverton has made the list. The city was ranked 55th in the 2013 rankings.
Beaverton Police Chief Geoff Spalding said in a statement that the ranking was "a tremendous honor."
“The brave men and women of the Beaverton Police Department are committed to staying diligent to keep Beaverton safe," he said.
CQ Press calculates the rankings by taking into account the differences between city and national crime rates for reported cases of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson. Each city is then ranked based on an overall score. The latest CQ Press rankings are based on crime data reported to the FBI in 2012.
Beaverton police reported no murders, 11 cases of rape, 40 robberies, 93 aggravated assault, 1,200 larceny, 111 motor vehicle theft and 24 arson cases in 2012. Only reported robberies increased from 2011 to 2012. Beaverton police have not released crime statistics for all of 2013.
The next five Oregon cities after Beaverton to appear in the rankings were Hillsboro (104th), Eugene (188th), Salem (221st), Medford (228th) and Portland (282nd).
The five cities with the highest crime ranking scores were Fishers, Ind.; Carmel, Ind.; Parma, Ohio; Johns Creek, Ga.; and Ramapo, N.Y. The five cities listed with the lowest scores were Camden, N.J.; Flint, Mich.; Detroit, Oakland, Calif.; and St. Louis. Several other cities, such as Chicago, were not included because numbers of rape cases were not available, according to the CQ Press.
-- Everton Bailey Jr.