Berea Ranked One of 50 Safest Cities in Ohio

BEREA, OH — Berea is one of the 50 safest cities in Ohio, according to a new study from CreditDonkey, a home security comparison website.

To determine their rankings, CreditDonkey analyzed crime statistics from the FBI's 2014 Uniform Crime Report. The website assigned each city a "safety score," after breaking down the number of violent and property crimes per 1,000 residents. To account for the fact that smaller towns often have less crime, CreditDonkey limited their study to towns and cities with populations over 10,000.

Violent crimes included in the study were murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults. Burglaries, larcenies, motor vehicle thefts, and arsons were included as property crimes. While singling out these specific crimes doesn't paint a perfect picture on the overall safety of a city, CreditDonkey used the logic that a lower crime rate means a better safety score.

With a safety score of 3.4, Berea placed No. 28 in CreditDonkey's ratings.

The study praised the Ride Along program, which allows citizens to experience an officer's typical day on the job. It also mentioned the fact that the student body of Baldwin Wallace University makes up much of Berea's population of nearly 19,000.

Here's a full breakdown of the city's crime numbers:

• Population: 18,981
• Violent crime per 1,000: 1.0
  
• Robbery per 1,000: 0.5
  
• Property crime per 1,000: 10.2
  
• Burglary per 1,000: 1.8