2016 Idaho burglary safe zones
A 2016 Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Report lists Rexburg and Rigby as having the lowest burglary rates in Idaho.
The college town of Rexburg, which is home to Brigham Young University, and has a population of 27,499 people, only had 20 reported burglaries.
In Rigby, population of 4,052 had only seven reported burglaries. Other cities recognized for having low burglaries were: Spirit Lake, Aberdeen, Montpelier, Soda Springs, Gooding, Meridian, Hailey, and Weiser.
Among the cities that had high burglary Hot Spots was Kellogg, with a population of 2,051 and 32 reported burglaries. Homedale also made the list, with a population of 2,573 and 40 reported burglaries.
Other cities were: Kimberly, Lewiston, Ponderay, McCall, Bellevue, Rathdrum, Orofino and Wendell.
Rigby Police Department Police Chief Sam Tower attributes the low burglary rate to having a full service police department.
“I think it’s a combination of having 24 hour patrol officers, we always having people working, we have a detective as well. We also have a very visible police department and of course we know visibility deters crime,” Tower said.
Tower adds, “People are more involved in keeping their property safe. People have been calling into the police department asking how they can keep their property safe.”
The Rigby Police Department is currently working on a developing a “Burglary Prevention” program, that will help educate the public on how to better protect their property.
“An on duty officer will go over your house and do a walk through of the house. And look at windows and doors and make recommendations to homeowners and deter burglary crimes,” Tower said.
Tower said the program is scheduled to begin this spring,”Our goal is to not have burglaries, we want to get that number to a 1.”
Burglary crimes are low, however, Tower said he’s seeing a rise in fraudulent crimes such as phone scammers and phishing emails.
“We are getting a lot of calls on fraudulent crimes going on and vehicle burglaries. We are mainly dealing with phone scammers. The elderly are being targeted,” Tower said.
Tower said only education can help decrease those crimes.
