Athens ranked among safest cities in Alabama

Christy Bailey, The News Courier, Athens, Ala.
·3 min read

Mar. 21—Athens has been ranked in the top 20 as one of Alabama's safest cities of 2023 according to Safewise. Warrior was ranked as the safest city in Alabama and according to Safewise, "The safest cities have a 51 percent lower crime rate than the rest of the state."

Safewise uses current FBI crime data as the foundation for their ranking system. The rankings are based on both violent and property crime numbers.

"To level the playing field, we calculated the rate of crimes per 1,000 people in each city. This makes it easier to directly compare the likelihood of these crimes occurring in cities with vastly different populations," Safeway explained in regards to their methodology. "By comparison, the FBI uses the number of crimes per 100,000 people to calculate its rates."

Athens, with a median income of $52,211, scored a violent crime rating of 0.6 and a property crime rate of 10.7.

Athens is one of the many cities new to the top 20 as more cities have chosen to submit data to the FBI. Cities listed as the top 20 safest cities, and their population, in Alabama are as follows.

1. Warrior (3,192)

2. Kimberly (3,688)

3. Southside (9,108)

4. Hamilton (6,621)

5. Priceville (4,137)

6. Fairhope (24,467)

7. Dothan (69,747)

8. Rainsville (5,168)

9. Glencoe (5,074)

10. Margaret (5,388)

11. Daphne (28,387)

12. Vestavia Hills (34,369)

13. Alabaster (33,963)

14. Athens (29,411)

15. Mountain Brook (20,006)

16. Satsuma (6,214)

17. Hokes Bluff (4,237)

18. Argo (4,306)

19. Rainbow City (9,602)

20. Fayette (4,214)

Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson gives praise to the officers of the department as well as the citizens of Athens and Limestone.

"I do give the credit to the men and women that are doing the work out there on the street. It's definitely a change from the way it's been through the years. I think a lot of it goes to our citizens also. A lot of good citizens here and people who tell us what's going on and be involved. They want us to know when we are not there to see," Floyd said.

Floyd also sees a correlation between public safety and the tremendous support both Athens Police Department and Limestone County Sheriff's Office receives from the community.

"I think that is a big building point here. As we continue to grow as a department and continue to grow as a community, I think that community involvement and connection is going to be very important to maintain public safety," he said.

Floyd is especially proud of Athens' rank as one of the higher populated cities to make the top 20 and believes that is a testament to great leadership and citizenship within the community.

"Athens is a unique area. When I hire people who are not from here, I tell them, 'the people here still love the police, and we still have good communication with people.' I think that survey points that out." Floyd said. "Getting to serve a community like this is truly a blessing."