Wondering about Georgia’s safest cities? 4 are in the midstate

If you’re looking for the safest community for your family in Middle Georgia, look no farther than Perry.

The National Council for Home Safety and Security ranked the county seat of Houston County as No. 4 on its 2017 list for the state’s safest cities with a population over 5,000.

Perry’s locale in the heart of the state is home to nearly 15,500 people with a violent crime rate of 1.29 per 1,000 people, the report stated.

The ratio for property crime is 5 per 1,000 residents, according to the latest FBI Uniform Crime Report.

“It feels great,” Perry Police Chief Steve Lynn said after the department posted the news on its Facebook page. “We’ve been inside the top 20 of different ranking places for about four years now, but this is the highest we’ve been and we are thrilled to be there.”

Although the time frame for the statistics was not specified in the report on alarms.org, Lynn said his community is doing really well compared to other cities.

“We have a great community and we have a great group of officers that work hard to keep us safe,” Lynn said.

Other Middle Georgia cities ranked in the top 50 are: McRae at No. 18, Byron at No. 26 and Centerville at No. 46.

Aggravated assault, murder, rape and robbery are considered violent crimes. The property crime statistics comprise burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and auto thefts.

Georgia has an average 5.8 ranking in violent crime per 1,000 persons and a 39.95 ranking in property crime.

The Fulton County suburb of Johns Creek, northeast of Atlanta, with its population of nearly 84,670, was deemed to be the safest Georgia city.

Its violent crime rate was 0.39 per 1,000 people and its property crime rate was 5 per 1,000 people.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 10:31 AM with the headline "Wondering about Georgia’s safest cities? 4 are in the midstate."