New Castle, North Castle Among Safest Municipalities in State
Families have moved to Westchester for decades because of great schools and the security of its communities.
A report released last week from SafeWise, an independent nationally recognized organization that analyzes home security and safety, revealed just how safe it has been.
Seven of the 25 safest municipalities in New York State with at least 8,000 residents are in Westchester, including New Castle and North Castle, which were both rated in the top 10, according to the report. New Castle was rated second safest in the state while North Castle came in sixth.
SafeWise used 2013 data supplied to the FBI and based its conclusions on reports of incidents of violent crimes, such as aggravated assault, rape, murder and robbery, and property crimes, including burglary, arson, larceny/theft and stolen vehicles. The organization then calculated the likelihood of these crimes occurring out of 1,000 people in each municipality.
“People come to our town mostly for the schools,” said New Castle Supervisor Robert Greenstein when told of the report. “They’re coming here to get the benefit of great schools but they also want to have a nice community to raise their families.”
New Castle was reported to have .11 violent crimes per thousand and 4.31 property crimes per thousand while North Castle’s statistics were .25 and 5.63, respectively.
Other Westchester municipalities that cracked the top 25 were Croton-on-Hudson (11th), Sleepy Hollow (12th), Harrison (18th), Eastchester (20th) and Mount Pleasant (23rd).
The Village of Malverne in Nassau County was ranked as the safest community in the state with just 2.46 property crimes per thousand. However, that village had a higher violent crime rate of .47 per thousand.
North Castle Supervisor Michael Schiliro said he was pleased to find the town high up on the list and credited having neighbors who watch out for each other and a local police department.
“It’s nice and it’s just emblematic of so many different things with this community that make it a great place to live,” Schiliro said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
