In the top 100 of safe places

Results from a study of college campuses and associated cities has ranked Cheney and Eastern Washington University among the 100 safest in the country.

The results, released Feb. 13, by the National Council for Home Safety and Security listed EWU/Cheney as the 73rd safest campus among universities with enrollment of 10,000 students or more. Eastern and Washington State University were the only two Washington schools to crack the top 100.

“This was from over 2,000 universities above 10,000 (students),” Cheney Police Chief John Hensley said in announcing the results at the City Council’s Feb. 13 meeting.

Central Washington University was No. 111, with Western Washington University No. 194 and the University of Washington No. 231. Locally, the University of Idaho in Moscow was ranked as the 15th-safest campus overall.

Brigham Young University’s campus in Rexburg, Idaho, was ranked the most safe campus in the nation by the study. According to the study’s authors, the highest ranked university campuses boast low campus and low local area crime.

The rankings were derived by using the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data and statistics from the Campus Safety Security Survey put out by the U.S. Department of Education.

Crimes reported by universities included violent crimes such as murder/non-negligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, rape (both definitions), robbery, aggravated assault and the property crimes of burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson. A campus safety score was calculated by adding together the rates of both types of crimes per 1,000 students, with violent crime was weighted 150 percent higher than property crime to account for the severity of the offense.

Crime statistics for the city in which the university campus is located were the same as the university crimes, as were property crimes. A local area safety score was calculated by adding together the rates of both types of crimes per 1,000 inhabitants, with violent crime again weighted 150 percent higher than property crime to account for the severity of the crime.

The number of law enforcement officers employed by the university at a particular campus was also a factor in the ranking. According to its website, the EWU police department has 18 commissioned police officers who provide 24/7 patrol and protection of a “325-acre campus, which includes a population of over 11,000 students and more than 1,300 staff members.”

According to the National Council for Home Safety and Security list, EWU/Cheney ranked 11th lowest nationally in overall violent crime, and 52nd lowest in property crime. By comparison, Washington State University was 15th and 142nd, and BYU-Idaho was 20th and 17th overall.

The state of Massachusetts has the most placings with four schools in the top 10. Michigan, Kentucky and Idaho all follow with one school each in the top 10 and two each in the top 20.

As a city, Cheney ranked as the 39th safest in Washington among cities with populations of 10,000 and above.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].