Irvine is Safest City of its Size for 17th Year

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Irvine, Calif. (Oct 12, 2022) – Irvine is the Safest City of its size for Part I violent crime, when compared to FBI data just released for calendar year 2021.

In comparison to information released last week by the FBI, Irvine has the lowest per capita violent crime rate of any city in the nation with a population of 250,000 or more. This is the 17th consecutive year Irvine has had the lowest per capita violent crime rate for its size. Click here to view Irvine violent crime data in comparison to FBI data of similar sized cities across the nation.

Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan congratulated the Irvine Police Department (IPD) on this achievement. “The women and men of the IPD work around the clock to keep our community safe and uphold a high level of public safety,” said Mayor Khan. Through strong partnerships with our community and new initiatives related to mental health, IPD continues to deliver exceptional service, keeping Irvine the safest city to live, work, and play.”

Irvine Police Chief Michael Kent credited the department’s partnership with City leaders and community stakeholders for its continued success. “Irvine remains a safe community, not by accident, but through collaboration between our City leaders who ensure we have the resources we need, our engaged residents who embrace crime prevention strategies, and the dedicated members of the Irvine Police Department who work tirelessly to find solutions to quality of life concerns and respond to criminal activity,” said Chief Kent. “These efforts are all part of the recipe to maintain the high level of safety our community enjoys.”

Beginning in 2021, the FBI mandated crime data be reported using a new and more detailed standard, the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). With the exception of San Diego County, every participating jurisdiction in the State of California reports their crime data to the California Department of Justice who then forwards the data to the FBI. In 2021, the California Department of Justice was unable to accept aggregate NIBRS compliant crime data from reporting jurisdictions. As a result, all California jurisdictions outside of San Diego County were noticeably absent from the 2021 FBI crime statistics.

For more information on programs and services provided by the Irvine Police Department, visit irvinepd.org.