Latest crime ranking places C-Falls at fourth

The city of Columbia Falls moved from third to fourth place in a ranking of Montana’s safest places by Movoto, an online real estate brokerage firm based in San Mateo, Calif.

Last fall, compiling FBI crime data from 2012 for communities with at least 3,000 people, Columbia Falls came in third place. Whitefish came in ninth in the crime analysis, and Kalispell didn’t make the top 10.

Now using FBI crime data from 2013, Movoto ranked the 10 safest places in Montana in order starting with No. 1 as Dillon, Miles City and Sidney tied, Columbia Falls, Glasgow, Livingston, Deer Lodge, Bozeman and Laurel tied, and Glendive. Kalispell came in 14th in Movoto’s newest ranking, and Whitefish came in 18th.

According to Movoto, Columbia Falls had the fewest violent crimes per person in Montana in 2013, with just five for a population of 4,721.

Those violent crimes were two rapes and three aggravated assaults. Combined with 134 reported property crimes, Columbia Falls had a total of 139 crimes — the ninth fewest per person in the state.

Several weeks ago, SafeWise.com, a community-focused security organization in California, compiled FBI crime data from 2012 for Montana communities with at least 1,500 people. Columbia Falls came in 10th, and Libby came in ninth. Kalispell and Whitefish didn’t make the top 10.