Utah boasts one of the safest metropolitan areas in the country, according to a new FBI report.
The Provo/Orem area had the nation's second lowest rate of violent crime last year.
Only Bismarck, North Dakota, reported a lower incidence of murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery. Of 268 metropolitan areas, Provo-Orem ranked 188th lowest in all crimes _ both violent and property-related _ in the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report.
Provo hasn't had a homicide in three years. Before that, there was an average of one or two killings a year, said Provo Police Chief Gregory M. Cooper.
"We're always running to and fro, but it's not for the real serious stuff," he said of the 100-officer department.
The Salt Lake City/Ogden area ranked 62nd.
Both Utah metro areas fared better in 2000 than they did five years earlier.
"Last year, they were about the lowest crime rates we've had in a couple of decades," said Adrian Sowards, the state Department of Public Safety statistician who collects the state's crime information.
"I've never seen crime this low for such an extended period," said Ogden Police Lt. Marcy Korgenski, who has been with her department for 20 years.
In 1995, Salt Lake City-Ogden ranked 42nd highest in the nation for all crimes; Provo-Orem was 181st, and 10th lowest in the violent crime categories.
The UCR is a cooperative effort of 17,000 city, county and state law enforcement agencies that voluntarily report crime data. The program's primary aim is to generate reliable statistics; over the years, the data have been used for research and planning, as well as a general social indicator.
But it's not a complete statistical look at crime in America. Some cities miss the deadline for reporting crime figure; others don't collect the figures the way the FBI wants them to.
In Utah, all violent and property crimes have dropped since 1995. That year, the two largest metro areas showed 118 crimes per 1,000 population. Last year, that figure dropped to 88 per 1,000.
Violent crime rates in the two areas fell from 6 to 4 per 1,000 people; property crimes, which include burglary, larceny-theft and motor-vehicle theft, fell from 112 to 84 per 1,000.
Utah's metro area totals provide a sharp contrast to more troubled areas in the nation. The city of Pine Bluff, Ark., for example, had 14 violent crimes per 1,000 people, and 67 property crimes.
Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification officials don't analyze the data, just collect it, said Sowards. "But what we hear is, 'The economy was improving, and when the economy is better, there's less crime."'
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
