Sugar Land named one of America's safest cities

Sugar Land was recently named America's 19th Safest City, a distinction based on an analysis of FBI crime statistics. The distinction makes Sugar Land the third safest city in Texas and the safest city in the Gulf Coast region. 

The national ranking is included in the annual publication of City Crime Rankings 2012-2013: Crime in Metropolitan America, a report published by Washington-based CQ Press to spotlight crime comparisons in U.S. cities and metropolitan areas.  The publication's authors have compiled state and city rankings books for more than two decades.

Sugar Land Police Chief Doug Brinkley credits a strong police presence, community partnerships and a commitment to technology for Sugar Land's low crime rate. 

During 2013, education and enforcement initiatives resulted in a reduction of residential and vehicle burglaries, a department wide focus. 

The crime prevention unit disseminated crime alerts to the community at neighborhood schools, homeowner association meetings and community events.  

An impact team created to specifically target burglaries was supplemented with units from patrol, crime prevention, criminal investigations and special crimes.  This group performed surveillance in hot spots such as fitness clubs, parks and retail parking lots.  The impact team also conducted high visibility patrols and deployed ghost cars and camera trailers to deter criminals.

City Council recently approved funds to expand SLPD's impact team.

According to CQ Press, the incidence of crime is of real concern to millions of Americans, and the rankings help them better understand what is happening in their communities. 

The CQ Press rankings of the safest and most dangerous cities and metropolitan areas are calculated using six basic crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft. These categories have been used for determining city ratings since 1999. The rankings include all cities of at least 75,000 residents that reported crime data to the FBI in the categories noted.

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