Chocolay Township rates among state’s safest places
Although Chocolay Township residents already knew it, the rest of the area has learned that the small, largely residential site located south of the city of Marquette is among the safest places to live in the state of Michigan.
That finding was made by online research and investment company valuepenguin.com and widely reported from there. A story on page 6A – Superior People – in today’s Mining Journal has complete details.
According to the site, Chocolay Township, which as about 6,000 residents, rated third in the state in overall safety.
Chocolay Township had no reported violent crime in 2013 and a relatively small amount of property crime.
ValuePenguin standardized the data to reflect violent and property crimes per 100,000 to account for population, and then aggregated a crime score.
To calculate this score, the company weighted violent crime at 90 percent and property crime at 10 percent on the premise that violent crime data points are more relevant when calculating the relative safety of the cities.
Police Chief Greg Zyburt credits the relationship his department enjoys with the people it serves.
“We still know each other,” Zyburt said for today’s story. “They know their neighbors. …They feel good enough to call without repercussions happening to them.”
Congratulations go out to Chocolay Township and, by extension, its police department.