Neighborhood Scout, an online real estate data service, has again ranked Milton as one of the 100 safest places to live. This was brought to our attention from a post on the Milton Police Department’s Facebook page.
The MPD note:
The Department is very happy to announce this morning that for the second straight year, Milton MA, has been selected as one of the “100 Safest Communities” in America. This award was made by Neighborhood Scout.com. This agency is the primary source in the US used by realtors and potential home buyers. The designation is based upon violent crime per 1000 residents as well as the overall safety of a community. Milton actually moved up 40 positions from 2013. The award affords Milton a “gold star standard” among the cities and towns of America. We want to thank all of our elected officials as well as our partners in law enforcement and every resident of Milton who takes the time to engage with us by phone, email and in person. The men and women of the Milton Police Department take great pride in the work we do protecting your well being 24/7/365. The safety and security of every home, business and school is our number one priority. Congratulations to all citizens of Milton on this well deserved award!
We would like to add a hearty congratulations to the MPD and the work they do. It is a testament to them.
Before congratulating residents and MPD for low crime rates, I think we should look at other town statistics that are known to correlate with crime.
Of the 16 MA towns/cities reported to be in the 100 safest list, all have much lower poverty rates than MA’s 11% and US’s 14.9%. Milton’s is 4.8%. Also, most of the 16 have a greater # of persons/household than MA’s 2.5. A home burglary counts once in these statistics even though it affects an entire family. So, towns with a greater # of persons/household often have an advantage because of the way the crime numbers are used
There also are greater proportions of the population under 5 years of age, greater home-owner rates, and a greater proportion of females in most of these 16. So, Milton might be a safe place to live but it is not necessarily because it has a good police department. I think this award is more of a testament to Milton’s low poverty rate, the age-distribution of its population, and the high home owner rate.
Finally, from a statistical perspective, ranks are extremely imprecise, so even a change of 40 places from the 2011 ranking to these 2012 rankings doesn’t mean much of anything, particularly when ranks are based on rates of rare events.
Cindy L. Christiansen, Town Meeting Member P7
I extremely disagree with the above town meeting member who said
“it is not necessarily because it has a good police department”.
In my opinion it is because our Police Department does a great job
in protecting the people and property in our town, and also how
vigilant most of the people in town are when they see something they
say something.