SIMI VALLEY IS STILL NATION'S SAFEST CITY.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

Simi Valley claimed the title of safest city in the nation for the fourth straight year despite a record six killings in 2001, including a jilted man's slaying of three people in a family's home, FBI preliminary crime statistics show.

For cities with more than 100,000 residents, Simi Valley reported the fewest crimes - beating rival neighbor Thousand Oaks, which took second - also for the fourth year in a row.

``We are very excited,'' Simi Valley Police Chief Randy Adams said. ``I think it attests to the very hard and dedicated work of the men and women of our Police Department, which I would stack up against any in the nation. I am very proud of them.''

The rankings show which of the big cities had the fewest crimes, but do not break down crimes per capita.

Also on the top 10 list again this year was neighboring Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County.

A low crime rate is a great sales pitch in an area where the median home price last month was $300,000, said Cecilia Porro of the Simi Valley/Moorpark Association of Realtors.

``For the fourth year in a row, we are the safest city; that would be definitely a selling point,'' Porro said, adding that it comes with the reputation of good schools and the city's proximity to other locations. ``I know Realtors out there are saying that.''

Despite its top showing, Simi Valley saw an overall rise in crime, fueled by aggravated assaults and motor vehicle thefts, according to the reports.

Homicides in Simi Valley jumped to an unprecedented six from one the previous year, in part authorities said, because of the slayings of a grandmother and two children in their home last fall. The man authorities identified as the gunman, a 35-year-old Thousand Oaks resident and former boyfriend of a woman in the family, later committed suicide during an intense manhunt.

``Even in a very safe city, we tell people not to rest on their laurels,'' Adams said.

Adams said the city is able to keep crime down because of residents who provide eyes and ears for the police in the community and the City Council's willingness to fund resources.

``We have the greatest Police Department in the country, but it takes lots of people and lots of different organizations to make this city stay the safest city,'' Simi Valley Mayor Bill Davis said. ``When they see anything that looks out of sort, they call the police.''

It also helps that many of the city's 111,351 residents are either police officers or firefighters, officials said.

Still, two of the homicides in 2001 involved emergency personnel - an off-duty Los Angeles police officer killed his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend and then committed suicide, and a Los Angeles firefighter killed a man in what the District Attorney's Office later ruled self-defense, authorities said.

Nationwide, the big cities saw a 2 percent increase in crime over 2000, according to the FBI. The crime index includes homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, arson and motor- vehicle theft.

Excluding the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the volume of violent crime offenses nationwide remained relatively unchanged from the previous year. However, property crime offenses increased by 2.2 percent.

Orange County's Mission Viejo would have beaten Simi Valley for the No. 1 spot with the fewest reported crimes, but with 96,568 residents it was just shy of the 100,000 population category.