Wilmore, Nicholasville among state’s safest cities

Published 10:28 am Thursday, November 12, 2020

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Jessamine County’s two cities are among Kenutcky’s safest, according to an online report.

According to a survey published on safety.com, Wilmore was ranked 12th and Nicholasville 24th among the state’s communities.

The website said used available federal data for crime and socioeconomic information to arrive at an overall score.

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“It’s an honor to get that grade,” Wilmore Police Chief William Craig said. “We’ve come in the top 10 a few times. It makes us feel good and the city council feel good.”

According to the site, Wilmore placed 26th in public safety rankings and 13th for financial safety.

Nicholasville was ranked 24th overall, 18th for public safety and 28th for financial safety.

“It’s a good thing,” Nicholasville Police Chief Todd Justice said. “It says a lot about our efforts to keep our citizens safe. It speaks to the amount of crime prevention we do, the officers we have and the work we do.”

Safety.com said it used the FBI’s 2018 annual crime report data as well as information from the U.S. Census, the 2019 America’s Health Rankings and the 2014 Insurance Journal Risk of Damage from Natural Hazards report. It also factored in access to health care and to the internet.

The FBI, on its website, cautioned against using its annual crime data to rank crime in communities or states.

“Each year when Crime in the United States is published, some entities use the figures to compile rankings of cities and counties,” the FBI wrote. “These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular state, county, city, town, tribal area, or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. … The data user is, therefore, cautioned against comparing crime data of individual reporting units from states, metropolitan areas, cities, or colleges or universities solely on the basis of their population coverage or student enrollment.”

Safety.com’s top 10 cities are: Fort Mitchell, Fort Thomas, Independence, LaGrange, Erlanger, Jeffersontown, Mount Washington, St. Matthews, Georgetown and Vine Grove.

Louisville was ranked 11th and Frankfort was 16th. Lexington was not in the top 50.

About Fred Petke

Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.

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