Henderson ranks high on another list of safest cities

Henderson was listed as the fifth-safest city in Nevada, with a rate of 1.68 violent crimes per 1,000 citizens. (Diego Mendoza-Moyers/View) @dmendozamoyers

The Henderson Police Department implements numerous programs to improve community outreach and relations, which has led to effective crime prevention, police spokesman Scott Williams said.

Henderson, which regularly appears on organizations’ national safest-city lists, was listed at the fifth-safest city in Nevada by safewise.com.

The site, which aggregates safety and security information, based its study on the FBI’s 2015 crime report. The 2015 report was the most recent available.

The site calculated the likelihood of one crime occurring out of 1,000 people in each city, said Emily Long, a safety expert with Safewise.

Henderson, with more than 282,000 residents, had 1.68 violent crimes — murder, robbery, assault or rape — per 1,000. The rate of property crimes — burglary, larceny, vehicle theft and arson — was 18.93 per 1,000.

The statewide averages in Nevada are 6.96 per 1,000 for violent crimes and 26.68 for property crimes. Nationwide, the averages are 3.83 violent crimes and 24.87 property crimes, Long said.

The safest city in Nevada, according to the safewise.com study, is Yerington, with a rate of 0.66 violent crimes and 6.61 property crimes per 1,000. Yerington has a population of 3,026 and reported two violent crimes and 20 property crimes in 2015.

Boulder City ranked second, followed by Mesquite and Carlin.

“We believe here in Henderson that crime is a community issue; it is not just a police issue,” said Officer Scott Williams, a Henderson Police Department spokesman. “It’s something that you have to work with the community in general. It has to be a team and a partnership.”