It Starts with a Square

Collierville’s Safety Rankings Rise

BY Regan Hewitt

Collierville has recently risen to the top of a new list -– as the second safest city in the state of Tennessee. The list is compiled by backgroundchecks.org using FBI crime statistics to create state rankings across the country. 

“As a [police] department, we are extremely grateful for our recent safest city ranking in Tennessee,” says Collierville Police Chief, David Tillner. “I am very proud of the efforts made on a daily basis by the men and women of our department as we continue to strive to keep Collierville a safe community for our citizens and visitors alike. We will continue to partner with our residents and retail establishments to take community safety to the next level.”

According to the website, “The [Collierville] community of 50K logged a violent crime less than three times lower than the state average, along with an impressive 18.3 per 1,000 property crime rate, rendering it a safe choice for families settling in the Memphis metropolitan area.”

Using FBI crime statistics, backgroundchecks.org calculates a “safety index” through the following method: 

  1. Cities with populations over 10,000 are selected for the ranking.
  2. Violent and property crime rates are calculated by dividing the crime numbers by the population to get rates per 1,000.
  3. The ratio of law enforcement is calculated per 1,000. 
  4. These are weighted with -50% for the violent crime rate, -25% for the property crime rate, and +25% for the law enforcement rate. 
  5. The final metric gives a safety index score to the cities; the higher the index, the safer the city.

Below is a snapshot of the top ten safest cities in TN (see the full list here):

September/October 2021 Tour Collierville Magazine