(OCEAN PINES, MD) The National Council for Home, Safety and Security has named Ocean Pines the safest city in Maryland.
Town officials like Denise Sawyer are thrilled about the honor.
"It's huge," Sawyer said.
Police Chief Dave Massey said "It's a tribute to our community. We are a very diverse community with young and old."
Residents and neighbors nearby are not surprised to hear just how safe Ocean Pines is.
"It's a suburb. There's no bad neighborhoods or anything like that," one resident said.
Another Ocean Pines' resident said "Fuuuhget about it. To enjoy with your family, your grandchildren... it's just a wonderful way of life."
The town's secret to their success is trusting the people they serve.
"We are very driven by community policing. We have active crime watchers," said Sawyer.
Police Chief Massey said "We do house checks. When people go away in the winter (some people are like the snow birds go to Florida in the winter months), we actually check houses."
Clearly, Ocean Pines officials are proud of their accomplishments but they say, they still have much more work do.
Massey said "One of the the problems we have is we are so safe, people don't take up crime prevention methods, such as locking your car or sometimes not even locking your house."
He added "Don't give a criminal an opportunity by not locking your vehicle or not locking your home."