Madison, a place that holds Money Magazine's distinction of being one of the nation's best places to live, now has another honor to add to its list: It is one of the safest cities of its size in the nation.
Statistics released Nov. 8 by the Madison Police Department and conducted by the United States Justice Department show that in 2001, Madison had the lowest overall crime rate out of 14 cities with populations of 200,000 to 250,000 people.
Madison had the lowest number of property crimes, murders, burglaries and aggravated assaults. There were 8,299 total crimes reported in 2001, including 708 violent crimes, 7,591 property crimes, 344 aggravated assaults and six murders.
These low rankings reflect well on Madisonians' solid Midwestern values, according to Mayor Sue Bauman.
\Madison is an incredibly safe city, at least in terms of violent crime ... I believe it's largely because people in the city of Madison really do care about each other,"" she said.
Bauman said she gives a lot of credit for the low crime rate to police and city staff that listen to the community's needs.
Madison ranked 12th out of the 14 cities for having the lowest number of rapes and thefts, but those numbers may be misleading according to a number of sources.
For instance, UW-Madison senior and Chair of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment Stephanie Byrnes said she greeted the rape statistic with skepticism.
""That there were only 63 [rapes] surprises me, because I'm sure that there were more than 63 but just not everyone reports it,"" she said. ""The statistic is that one in four women will be sexually assaulted some time in their lifetime. Not a lot of people report this and that may be why the numbers are low.""
Students can also prevent becoming victims of crime by drinking responsibly, according to Susan Crowley, director of the Policy Alternative Community and Education coalition. Eighty percent of sexual assaults occur when one of the parties involved has had too much too drink, Crowley said.
""The numbers may be low but we need to be thinking about what other factors are at work when we look at crime statistics,"" she said.
People should not let the low crime statistics lull them into a sense of false security and should remain on their toes, according to Bauman.
""This kind of story should make us feel good about ourselves, but not complacent,"" she said. ""We should continue to do what we're doing and continue to focus on our neighbors and get to know each other.""
That advice extends to students as well. Like Byrnes, UW Police officer Kerri Miller said low crime statistics do not always accurately reflect reality and students should remember a lot of crimes that threaten them, such as theft and criminal damage, go unreported.
Miller added her department reminds UW-Madison students to stay vigilant to protect themselves from becoming victims to crime.
""We tell them to lock your bikes up, lock your dorm room doors, don't leave your office unattended,"" she said, adding that UW-Madison offers a number of programs to keep student safe.
""We advocate using SAFEwalk and SAFEride and we just talk about personal safety'knowing your surroundings, don't walk where it's dark, walk with other people,"" she said.
