GRAND RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — A local community has been named one of the safest in Wisconsin.

Grand Rapids has been named the safest city in Wisconsin according to SafeWise, a review and comparison site that focuses on home safety. SafeWise puts out a new list every year and Grand Rapids jumped from 7th to 1st in a year.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Mel Pederson says it’s an honor for the city to be named the safest in the state. “It’s a great honor and it’s attributable to the efforts of a lot of people in the town here. Not only the police department but everybody else. Employees and even the town residents, so it’s a great honor.”

Pederson feels one of the main aspects to Grand Rapids being such a safe community is the police department’s good relationship with residents. “The biggest factor is always having that great relationship with the community. Out interacting with them and making sure that the general public knows we’re out there.”

Being a mainly residential community also makes the area safer according to Pederson. “We’re pretty much a residential community. And being as such we hope that it keeps the crime rate down.”

Even with being named the safest community in the state, Pederson says there are always more things to be done to keep the community even safer. “What we want to do is to continue to involve the community. Making sure that the working relationship we have with the community stays good. And I think as long as we do that we can stay right at the top year after year.”

Other local communities listed by SafeWise as one of the top 20 safest communities in Wisconsin include Colby-Abbotsford and Mosinee. SafeWise ranks the cities based on violent and property crime rates in the 20 different cities.