NASSAU COUNTY, NY (September 28, 2021) – Nassau County Executive Laura Curran today announced that Nassau County has been named the “Safest Community in America” by US News and World Report for the second consecutive year. After taking the number one spot in 2020, Nassau County again ranks number one in US News and World Report’s public safety ranking for 2021, a comprehensive assessment of nearly 3,000 Counties based on seven metrics in three key areas: crime, injuries and public safety capacity. Individual metrics on which counties were assessed included violent crime rate, property crime rate, vehicle crash fatality rate, the share of public safety professionals within a population and per capita spending on health and emergency services.
After being named the Safest Community in America by US News and World Report in 2020, crime in Nassau County has continued to decline to historic lows – down 10.5% over the past year and 36% over the past decade. Over the past year in Nassau County, there has been a 22.2% decline in homicides, a 15% decline in burglary (residential and commercial), and an 11% reduction in grand larceny.
“While crime has spiked in other parts of the country, Nassau County is safer than ever. Nassau’s success in holding crime down shows that intelligence-led, community-oriented policing works. It also shows that Nassau has the finest Police Department in the nation, and I’d like to thank the brave men and women in uniform for all they do protect our communities. Keeping Nassau safe is a team effort, and I want to also thank the District Attorney’s Office, Nassau's Fire Marshal, Fire Service, Corrections, Probation, Office of Emergency Management, and other dedicated first responders working non-stop for our County,” said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.
“Today’s announcement further validates the effectiveness of Nassau County’s community-focused and intelligence-based approach to law enforcement,” said Nassau County Legislator Ellen Birnbaum. “Thank you to all of our dedicated law enforcement professionals for making this possible!”
“The announcement by U.S. News and World Report ranking Nassau County the Safest Community in America for 2020 for the second straight year with a perfect 100% overall public safety score is not by chance,” said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder. “The hard-working dedicated men and women, both sworn and civilian, of this police department along with our Intelligence Led Policing Model have brought our crime rate to historically low levels over the past ten years. A 31% drop in major crime over the past 10 years combined with another 7.4 % year to date is a true testament to the excellent work being done daily. While working with our great communities and continuing our Intelligence Led Policing approach, we will continue to keep our residents living in the Safest Community in America.”
“All of the agencies within the Public Safety vertical in Nassau County work tirelessly each and every day to ensure the safety and security of our communities,” said Deputy County Executive of Public Safety Tatum Fox. “This continuous effort includes our Police, Probation, Emergency Management, Sheriff/Corrections, and Fire Marshal/Fire Service agencies. Regardless of the nature of any incident, all of our Public Safety agencies work seamlessly together to provide our residents with the quality of services that have been recognized in this report. We are very proud of our Public Safety agencies and the work they perform on behalf of our residents.”