Newton no longer America's safest city

The safest city in the country is not right across the street anymore, according to the annual survey by Morgan Quitno Press. Newton, Mass., including its neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, which surrounds much of Boston College's Main Campus, has fallen from first to fourth on the list of cities with the lowest crime rates. "What happened was we had a rash of housebreaks last year, and that put us over the top," said Lt. Bruce Apotheker of the Newton Police Department and BC '86. "We were pretty consistent with our numbers except for these break-ins."

Apotheker made it clear that despite the robberies, Newton is still one of the safest places to be. "We get very few crimes against the person; the majority of our crimes are against property. What makes us a safe community is that we have a large city … and very little crime, which means a low overall crime rate," he said.

The survey calculates safety rankings by comparing the number and nature of crimes that occur in a city with the size of the particular city.

Brick, N.J., is the new "safest city in America," although Newton still remains the safest city in Massachusetts.

The survey also lists the most dangerous cities in the nation with St. Louis, Mo., at the very bottom. In the state of Massachusetts, Springfield tops the less desirable end of the list.

Apotheker said that he believes the survey is somewhat arbitrary, as it does not include certain crimes such as car break-ins. "If they included other crimes in their calculations, Morgan Quitno might reach different results than they have in the past," he said.

Newton was ranked the safest city in America three out of the last six years by the annual survey. Apotheker continues to be optimistic about regaining the title, saying, "I see Newton being number one again in the next three to five years."