It’s the kind of news every town wants to have, to be among the safest and lowest crime areas.

And for Flatwoods, they have the proof they are.

“We’re the safest city in Kentucky,” says Flatwoods Mayor Ron Fields. “We were number two last year and this year we moved up to number one.”

There are 75 cities in Kentucky with a population of 4,000 or more people. Flatwoods has roughly 7,500 people.

“We’re number one in the 5,000 to 10,000. But we are also the lowest of all 75 cities so that makes us number one,” Fields said.

Every year, cities turn their case reports over to the Federal Bureau of Investigations. The FBI then runs those stats to determine annual rates for crimes like murder, rape, assault, and burglary.

“They base this on violent crimes and violent crimes on property,” Fields said.

And Flatwoods didn’t have any violent crimes and property crimes were at a rate of five per 1,000 people.

Kentucky as a whole is below the national average for violent crimes. According to a 2016 FBI crime report, the commonwealth’s crime rate was 44 percent belong the national average. And among the 20 safest cities in Kentucky list for 2016, only two of the cities had a reported murder.

Fields said he couldn’t remember the last time there was a murder in Flatwoods.

Fields gives the credits to the police department.

“We have a really good police department right now. Our guys recognize the actions they have to take, above and beyond their normal responsibilities of a police department,” he said. “And they work hard to accomplish that. That’s an important goal, to keep our community safe.”

Fields said the 12 officers survey the streets and the residences in the neighborhoods to determine a possible crime or disorderly priorities to deliver police services in a positive and responsive.”

According to the ValuePenguin web site, the bottom five cities for violent crimes in Kentucky are Middlesboro, Paducah, Pikeville, Newport and Louisville.