Crime & Safety

Ridgewood Named 6th Safest City in United States

Neighborhood research site NeighborhoodScout has named Ridgewood one of the top 100 safest cities in America.

Ridgewood is one of the ten safest cities in America, according to NeighborhoodScout, a website that tracks crime, schools and real estate data for communities across the country.

The village finished 6th in NeighborhoodScout's annual list of the Safest Cities in America, which was compiled using 2011 Uniform Crime Report data and released last month. Ridgewood was not included in last year's rankings, as previous census figures had the village with a population just below the 25,000 cut off.

"I'm proud of our designation, but certainly not surprised," Mayor Paul Aronsohn said. "Ridgewood is a community in the truest sense of the word, and we have a first-rate police force."

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"The governing body sets a very high standard in terms of safety and it's constantly working with staff to keep the focus on individual safety," added Village Manager Ken Gabbert. "We have excellent staff and excellent technology in place. From a police standpoint, we're a nationally accredited police force. So it's good news."

Ridgewood's was down slightly from its 8.9 in 2010. It is far lower than the New Jersey and national averages.

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to NeighborhoodScout, the safest neighborhoods in Ridgewood, in descending order, are the southwest side of Ridgewood (Woodland/N.Monroe area); the norhwest area around Williard; the Somerville area on the east side; the B.F./Travell section around E. Glen and Maple; and finally, the downtown.

Three other Bergen County municipalities also made NeighborhoodScout's 2013 Safest Cities list – Fair Lawn (39th), Fort Lee (27th), and Bergenfield (2nd).

Franklin, Mass. was named the safest city in the country for 2013, an honor NeighborhoodScout bestowed upon Bergenfield last year.

The website calculates its rankings based on the total number of index crimes per 1,000 residents living in a city. Cities must have populations of at least 25,000 to be considered.

Have a question or news tip? Contact editor James Kleimann at James.Kleimann@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox every morning, sign up for our daily newsletter.


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