Irvine, Huntington Among Safest Cities

Irvine is the sixth-safest city in the nation, and Huntington Beach placed third among medium-size cities, according to the latest annual rankings from Money magazine.

Irvine was third last year and No. 1 in 1994, but Police Chief Charles Brobeck said such shifts are insignificant, driven by changes in the magazine’s rating criteria.

“As long as we stay in the top 10, I’m very happy with that,” he said.

Amherst, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, placed first, as it did in 1996.

Money’s rankings are based on FBI statistics, which the Kansas-based Morgan Quitno Press then weights according to surveys of about 500 people nationwide. This year the respondents cited burglary as their greatest concern, so cities with fewer break-ins rated higher.

Brobeck said his city’s low crime partly stems from numerous Neighborhood Watch and other community meetings at which police encourage residents to report suspicious activities. He said those calls often result in arrests for burglaries or car thefts in progress.

Huntington Beach police spokesman Lt. Dan Johnson said various factors also discourage crime in Surf City.

From 1994 to 1996, Huntington Beach was named America’s safest city, when the rankings included only the nation’s 100 most-populous cities, Johnson said. But this year, Money ranked Huntington Beach third among cities with 150,000 to 499,999 residents.

“We have a real high income base, and a real active family community, with kids coming from a stable home environment,” Johnson said. “All the things that make Huntington Beach great help keep the crime rate down.”

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Irvine is the sixth-safest city in the United States, based on a combination of FBI crime statistics and survey results showing which crimes residents fear most. Huntington Beach ranked as the third-safest among medium-size cities (population 150,000-499,999). The most secure, regardless of size, with 1996 ranks in parentheses:

Rank City

1. Amherst, N.Y. (1)

2. Simi Valley (4)

3. Sterling Heights, Mich. (n/a)

4. Thousand Oaks (2)

5. Sunnyvale, Calif. (5)

6. Irvine (3)

7. Livonia, Mich. (7)

8. Santa Clarita, Calif. (12)

9. Mesquite, Texas (10)

10. Plano, Texas (10)

Source: Money magazine