It's time to end our obsession with crime rankings
Maybe Simi Valley would be better off if it had never ap peared on a list of "America's Safest Cities," a ranking trend that began in the mid-'90s and has continued to this day (Simi Valley was No. 25 in 2007).

While it might sound strange, maybe being told again and again that our city was "safer" than nearly all others with populations over 75,000 was more curse than compliment.

It seems that this mythical designation- still held in high regard by residents and repeated frequently by city officials- has created a culture that no longer looks at criminal activity as a reallife problem that requires reallife solutions, but simply as a statistic, a number that must be monitored and maintained. And that is a problem.

Mayors and police chiefs across the country have long decried these "safest" and "most dangerous" city reports- produced every year by an independent publishing firm using FBI crime statistics- for doing more harm than good.

Even the FBI has criticized the reports, telling the Associated Press last year, "These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents."

While most of the complaints about the reports come from cities ranked high on the "most dangerous" list, in Simi's case it appears it is our placement near the top of the "safest" list that has caused the problem. To be frank, it's created an unhealthy obsession with a number that has no real meaning in the context of human life.

Now when a serious violent crime takes place in Simi Valley- such as the brutal murder of 44-year-old mother of three Josefina Gutierrez- our first thoughts go not to the victim and how we can help, but instead to the impact on the city's reputation.

Let's make a pledge today that we're going to stop looking at criminal activity in our city as something to be ashamed of and start looking at it as a serious problem that must be addressed by all of us collectively- from Wood Ranch to The Knolls- not just by the local police department.

We all care deeply about making sure Simi Valley never loses its status as a safe and prosperous place to raise a family. We just don't need some silly ranking to tell us.