PAUL DAUTERIVE
Staff Reporter |pdd010@ latech.edu
Residents of Ruston may be relieved after learning the city of Ruston was ranked the second, safest larger city in Louisiana after Kenner.
The website Value Penguin released statistics after analyzing the most recent crime reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that included both violent and property-related crimes per 100,000 people.
The statistics placed Ruston into the big city category with a population of 20,000 or more people.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things but we just have a good city, period,” said mayor of Ruston Ronny Walker.
Ronny Walker, mayor of Ruston, discusses cities ranking. –Photo by Brian Blakely
Walker said the city of Ruston has great law enforcement officers as well as fire fighters and other public safety employees. He said it is the citizen and student involvement that helps keep the city safe.
Walker said Ruston is truly a two-college town with Louisiana Tech and Grambling State University.. While Grambling State is outside of the city limits ,many of the students live and shop in Ruston.
“When you take two colleges and the small-sized police force we have, I think being No. 2 is outstanding,” he said.
Walker said the Ruston Police Department works closely with the Ruston Fire Department, Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office and Grambling Police Department in order to keep the City of Ruston safe.
“We’ve got officers and detectives working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Clint Williams deputy chief of Ruston Police Department, said.
Williams said the department works hard to protect the citizens of Ruston and Lincoln Parish as well as the students at Tech.
“We ask students to educate themselves and be aware of their surroundings,” he said.
Williams said the department does their best to prevent what they can.
“I know there’s not a lot of crime in Ruston,” said Sarah Owens, a resident of Ruston.
She said her boyfriend is a police officer at the Ruston Police Department and the department is definitely expanding.
She said there are a few places she would not walk around at night, but overall she believes Ruston is a safe place.
“Instances have occurred, but there is a low number each year,” McKenna Jenkins, a sophomore elementary education major, said.
Jenkins said she has no problem with walking around campus at night and does not feel threatened.
“I definitely feel safe in Ruston,” Jenkins said.
For more info visit http://www.valuepenguin.com/2015/07/2015-safest-places-louisiana.