Melrose finished in the top half of the 100 safest cities in the United States in 2012, according to the Neighborhood Scout website.

Melrose came in at no. 43 on the list, ahead of Vernon, Conn. (no. 44), according to the website. Of the 11 Massachusetts cities on the list, Franklin (no. 2), Needham (no. 15), Wellesley (no. 19), Lexington (no. 20), Andover (no. 22), Agawam (no. 25), Dracut (no. 28) and Milton at no. 42 finished higher on the list than Melrose, according to the site.

The safest city on the list was Bergenfield, N.J.

"Our research reveals the 100 safest cities in America with 25,000 or more people, based on the total number of property and violent crimes per 1,000 residents," reads the website. "Crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, forcible rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. Data used for this research are 1) the number of total crimes reported to the FBI to have occurred in each city, and 2) the population of each city."

Crime Data in Melrose

Melrose had a combined 357 property and violent crimes in 2012, according to the website. Of the 357 crimes, 310 were property crimes while 47 were violent crimes last year, according to the site. 

Property crimes in Melrose included 226 thefts, 62 burglaries and 22 motor vehicle thefts in 2012, according to the website. Meanwhile, there were 31 assaults, 14 robberies and two rapes comprising the violent crimes in the city last year, according to the site.

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