Mountain Brook one of the state’s safest cities

Mountain Brook was listed as the fourth safest city in the Alabama on Feb. 18 according to SafeWise.com.

Ahead of it on the list were Margaret, Helena and Southside.

To compile this report, SafeWise used the most recent FBI crime data from 2012 to analyze and rank these cities, which all have a minimum population of 5,000 people.

“Crime prevention is a very serious topic in the city, and the police emphasize citizen involvement to help prevent crime in order to keep this exclusive city safe for those who live, work and visit here,” said Mountain Brook Mayor Terry Oden.

SafeWise analyzed crimes from Part 1 of the FBI Unified Crime Report (UCR), which focuses on violent crimes (aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder and robbery) as well as property crimes (arson, burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft). From there, SafeWise calculated the chances of these crimes happening out of one thousand in order to level the playing field for cities of varying populations. From all of the cities in Alabama, SafeWise narrowed the list down to 30 and assigned rankings according to data provided by the FBI's UCR report.

"The Safest Cities Report is used by many first-time homebuyers, apartment hunters and travelers to determine the safest places to buy, rent and stay in Alabama,” said Elli Bishop, SafeWise press liaison. "These cities deserve recognition for the efforts of their citizens, police department and local and state government to make Alabama a great place to live.”

SafeWise.com is a community-focused security organization made up of home security experts with more than 75 years of combined industry experience.