In an announcement made on October 30, 2006, Fond du Lac was named as the safest metropolitan area in the United States.  The announcement came in the new 2006 edition of City Crime Rankings by Morgan Quitno Press, an annual reference book of crime statistics and rankings.  For the past two years, Fond du Lac was rated as the second safest metro area.

The Morgan Quitno Safest City Award is based on a metro area's rate for six basic crime categories:  murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.  All metro areas of 75,000+ populations that report crime data to the FBI for the six crime categories were included in the rankings.  In this year’s survey, 344 metro areas were considered for the award.  Final 2005 statistics, released by the FBI in October, 2006 determined the rankings.

Other Wisconsin communities in the top rankings are Eau Claire (#4), Appleton (#5), Sheboygan (# 6), Wausau (#10), and Oshkosh-Neenah area (#12).

Police Chief Tony Barthuly noted, “This is definitely an honor for our entire community.  I feel that this recognition is the result of a continued effort by our department, our community and Fond du Lac County law enforcement partners, and the citizens that join us in making Fond du Lac a safe place to live, learn, work and play.”

The report is available at: http://www.morganquitno.com.