Hillsborough Township is ranked by a home security and safety product company, Safewise, as the 51st safest city in the United States.
The Utah company’s annual report is based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) in each city. If there was a tie, the company factored in the number of property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft).
“Once the FBI releases its latest and current crime reports, we start then on the data analysis process. Last year that was around September and October,” said Rebecca Edwards, a Safewise Safety and Security Expert.
Cities that fell below identified population thresholds or that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI were excluded from the company ranking system.
According to company officials, to level the playing field, the staff calculated the rate of crimes per 1,000 people in each city. It made it easier for the company to directly compare the likelihood of these crimes occurring in cities with vastly different populations.
Hillsborough also ranks in the company’s State of Safety report as the No. 36 safest city in the state.
“When we look at Hillsborough we are comparing the city to so many other cities in the state that meet the median population threshold,” Edwards said. “When we are looking across the country we are looking at Hillsborough across every other city that meets the same requirements. More than 2,500 cities across the country were in the running for our report.”
She said in New Jersey the top three security concerns among residents are digital security, property crime and violent crime.
“Digital security was the top concern with 71 percent of the people polled ranking that as their highest concern. 61 percent ranked property crime as their next concern, and 55 percent had violent crime as their third top security concern,” Edwards said.
To help sure up security online Edwards suggests that residents have complicated and unique passwords, and protect their home wifi network by protecting the router with a firewall.
“Surprisingly when we really dug down and started looking at everything, digital security concerned rank number one across the entire country as well,” Edwards said. “This was also the number one ranked security breach that residents have experienced in the past year. 22 percent of residents in New Jersey that we spoke to experienced a digital threat or breach in the past year.”
She said there is not a way to be 100 percent immune from digital security threats.
“Everything is constantly evolving that is why it is so hard to keep up with digital security,” Edwards said.
For more information about the reports, visit www.safewise.com/safest-cities-america/ or www.safewise.com/state-of-safety/.