Orem one of 'safest' U.S. cities

It ranks 12th in U.S.; St. Louis is 'most dangerous'

Orem residents may well start chanting, "We're No. 12! We're No. 12!" When more than 370 cities in the United States are ranked according to safety, 12th best is a high honor.

After all, the mayor of Camden, N.J., is delighted that city is now only the fifth worst.

The rankings are from the annual Morgan Quitno Press report on the country's most and least dangerous cities.

"We're very pleased," Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn said in a late Sunday interview. The list was publicly released early today.

"Orem has been ranked before, and in fact it's usually in the top 20 in this same report," he said. The good ranking "shows a consistence in terms of our people's values and their lifestyle, and the things that make a community great." Orem was once rated the ninth-safest city, Washburn said.

Among many aspects to the matter, he said, is that Orem has values centered on the family. It has wonderful education institutions, both public schools and at the university level. He added that it has a progressive public safety department.

"We have officers that are assigned to various neighborhoods, to be in the neighborhood to work with people in cleaning up party houses and abandoned cars."

Little things like that, Washburn said, add to the overall perception that a community is safe and crime is uncommon.

"I'm just proud of our citizens and organizations that make up this synergistic whole."

On flip side of the story is the fact that just days after the St. Louis Cardinals won the top honor in Major League Baseball, their hometown jumped to first place on a list no one wants to lead: the most dangerous cities in the United States.

St. Louis has long been in the upper tiers of the annual ranking of the nation's safest and most dangerous cities, compiled by Morgan Quitno Press. Violent crime surged nearly 20 percent there this year, when the rate of such crimes rose much faster in the Midwest than in the rest of nation, according to FBI figures released in June.

The ranking, being released today, came as the city was still celebrating Friday's World Series victory at the new Busch Stadium. St. Louis has been spending millions of dollars on urban renewal even as the crime rate climbs.

Mayor Francis Slay did not return calls seeking comment Sunday.

Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press, a private research and publishing company specializing in state and city reference books, said he was not surprised to see St. Louis top the list, since it has been among the 10 most dangerous cities for years.

Morgan said the study looks at crime only within St. Louis city limits, with a population of about 330,000. It doesn't take into account the suburbs in St. Louis County, which has roughly 980,000 residents.

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