This blog item caught my eye.

Bloggers' challenge: Why is Cache Valley so crime-free?

The Herald Journal in Logan asked the question, though it also seemed to be making a statement. I wondered how the newspaper came to that conclusion. I did some checking.

Both the state of Utah and the U.S. Department of Justice collect crime statistics and publish them. They do that so citizens can judge for themselves how safe their communities are.

Every police agency in the United States is supposed to follow guidelines for how to categorize and report crime but there can still be some variation in the quality of the reporting. For the purposes of this discussion, let's assume everyone reported crime the same way. Then let's consider the "Cache Valley" to be Cache County and compare it to other Utah counties.

County Population Crime Rate/1,000
San Juan County| 14,265 | 6.38
Emery CO SO | 10,698 | 10.75
Sanpete County| 24,196| 10.79
Juab County | 9,420| 11.04
Wasatch County| 20,255| 12.15
Daggett CO SO| 947| 13.73
Beaver County| 6,294| 13.82
Kane County| 6,532 | 15
Washington County| 126,312| 17.9
Cache County| 98,662| 19.41
Uintah County| 27,955| 22.07
Davis County | 276,259| 23.16
Box Elder County | 47,197| 23.37
Duchesne County | 15,701| 23.63
Rich CO SO | 2,040| 25
Utah County| 464,760| 25.82
Millard CO SO | 12,390| 25.91
Iron County | 40,544| 26.79
Sevier County | 19,640| 29.79
Carbon County | 19,469| 32.72
Summit County | 35,469| 34.45
Grand County| 8,999| 36
STATE TOTAL | 2,550,063 | 36.72
Weber County | 213,247| 44.64
Salt Lake County| 978,701| 53.78
Wayne CO SO | 2,544| 62.89

Nine other counties in the state reported lower crime rates than Cache County in 2006 — the last year for which there is complete data. (Morgan and Piute counties did not report complete data.) That neither proves nor disproves the newspaper's question, but at least you have some context.

Here's the complete report from the state of Utah. Below is a spreadsheet I created from the 2006 data compiled by the state.

-- nc

The badge and logo is from the Cache County Sheriff's Web page. I posted it only because I think mounted posses are cool.

UtahCrime2006

Labels: Crime, FBI