Perry named one of Georgia’s safest cities

PERRY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – “We work hard at it,” said Chief Stephen Lynn.

Chief Lynn and the Perry Police Department  have worked hard to keep the city of Perry safe.

“We’ve been working diligently on interrupting crime,” said Chief Lynn. “We’ve been fortunate enough to reduce our crime rate for four consecutive years.”

It’s paid off. The National Council for Home Safety and Security ranked Perry number four out of Georgia’s fifty safest cities.

“The ranking is based off of the FBI’s uniform crime report,” said Chief Lynn. “The statistics that we report monthly to the FBI.”

Twenty violent crimes, and 164 property crimes were reported in 2016.

“In the time where we’re not answering calls, about things that have already happened,” said Chief Lynn. “We spend that time actively observing, enforcing, patrolling to see what we can do to help interrupt things from happening”

Michelle Rhoades, owns Mossy Creek Soap in Perry. She’s been at that location for almost two years.

“We have not seen anything that has been here,” said Rhoades. “We feel like it’s very safe.”

Rhoades says it’s mainly because everyone in the city watches out for each other.

“We know that if something’s going on with our neighbors, cause they’ll let us know if they’re going out of town,” said Rhoades. “Or if they’ve got somebody else working besides them, working in that business. So, we do kind of keep tabs on each other.”

That’s why Chief Lynn also credits the community for earning it’s ranking.

“We work very well with our community, they are our eyes and ears,” said Chief Lynn. “Obviously many more citizens in town than there are police officers.”

He says keeping the city safe is definitely a team effort.

For the full list of Georgia’s safest cities, click here.