That's how Logan, Orem and Provo rate in Morgan Quitno's new edition of City Crime Rankings, a yearly reference book due out this week that ranks America's safest and most dangerous cities.

Logan and its surrounding communities constitute the safest of 330 metropolitan areas surveyed by Morgan Quitno Press, a research and publishing company based in Lawrence, Kan.

Meanwhile, Orem is deemed the 14th safest of 369 U.S. cities and Provo the 10th safest of 208 cities with populations from 100,000 to 499,999.

Orem also rates as 10th safest of cities with populations between 75,000 and 99,000, while Salt Lake City is 275th out of 369 cities.

Morgan Quitno taps Newton, Mass., as the nation's safest city and Camden, N.J., as the most dangerous. The Detroit area is labeled the most dangerous metro area.

Cache County Sheriff G. Lynn Nelson said major crime has dropped dramatically in the Logan area the past five years. He said the survey reflects that fact and the strong "values we have here in Cache County and our desire to maintain a good lifestyle."

Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn hailed his city's strong showing.

"In the past five or six years, Orem has always finished in [Morgan Quitno's] top 20 and has been ranked as high as fifth or sixth," Washburn said Monday. "This shows that there's been consistency, that Orem's ranking is not a fluke. Orem is a family-oriented, high-value community. Parents here teach children responsible values. But we also can't overestimate the contributions of our police and public safety workers."

For Provo Mayor Lewis Billings - who weathered allegations during his successful re-election campaign this fall that public safety in Utah County's largest city was slipping - the survey was vindication.

"There were a lot of allegations made during that campaign that were a distortion of the facts," Billings said. "This was just one of them."

Billings attributed Provo's showing to an "effective and capable" police force and to residents with a passion for complying with the law.

"As safe as we are," he added, "we still have crime. If there is one crime, that's one too many and there's more work to do."

Morgan Quitno's survey measures municipal rates for six basic crimes: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor-vehicle theft. The survey relies on FBI crime stats for 2004, released Oct. 17 of this year, to determine the rankings.

Orem Public Safety Director Mike Larsen said his city would score even higher, but Orem loses points for having relatively few officers. The city has 86 sworn police officers, many of them also tasked with firefighting duties.

Provo has 97 sworn police officers and 76 firefighters. If Brigham Young University police are thrown into the mix, Billings said, Provo's total rises by another 30 officers. "We see BYU as an important subset of this community," Billings said.

America's safest cities

l 1. Newton, Mass.

l 2. Clarkstown, N.Y.

l 3. Amherst, N.Y.

l 4. Mission Viejo, Calif.

l 5. Brick Township, N.J.

l 6. Troy, Mich.

l 7. Thousand Oaks, Calif.

l 8. Round Rock, Texas

l 9. Lake Forest, Calif.

l 10. Cary. N.C.

l 14. Orem, Utah

Safest, populations

100,000-499,999

l 1. Amherst, N.Y.

l 2. Thousand Oaks, Calif.

l 3. Cary, N.C.

l 4. Irvine, Calif.

l 5. Sunnyvale, Calif.

l 6. Simi Valley, Calif.

l 7. Coral Springs, Fla.

l 8. Port St. Lucie, Fla.

l 9. Glendale, Calif.

l 10. Provo, Utah

Safest metro areas

l 1. Logan, Utah

l 2. Fond du Lac, Wisc.

l 3. Glen Falls, N.Y.

l 4. Appleton, Wis.

l 5. Sheboygan, Wis.

l 6. Columbus, Ind.

l 7. La Crosse, Wis.

l 8. Oshkosh-Neenah, Wis.

l 9. Bangor, Maine

l 10. Bismarck, N.D.

Source: Morgan Quitno