Thirteen is Oxford Township’s lucky number.

That’s what the community was ranked in the recently-released National Council for Home Safety and Security’s list of Michigan’s Top 100 Safest Cities.

“I am proud of all of our officers at the Oxford substation,” said Oakland County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Patterson. “They work very hard to keep the community safe. It’s nice to see their hard work has made a difference and is being recognized. We will continue to provide Oxford Township with the level of service that they deserve.”

The sheriff’s office has been under contract to patrol the township (not including the village) since 2000.

“We’ve worked diligently to build a great substation here in Oxford,” said township Trustee Jack Curtis.

“Through our deputies, through our command (staff), through our equipment (and) through our budget process, we try to give the best service to the community we can and it clearly shows.”

Founded in 2006 and based in Washington D.C., the National Council for Home Safety and Security is a national trade association comprised of licensed alarm installers, contractors and other relevant trade groups across the United States.

According to the organization’s website www.alarms.org, identifying the state’s safest cities involved reviewing the most recent Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Report statistics along with population data and internal research.

Communities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI were eliminated as well as communities with populations under 10,000.

Remaining communities were ranked based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft) per 1,000 people, according to the website. Due to their severity, violent crimes were given more weight in the ranking process than property crimes.

According to the website, Oxford Twp. had 16 violent crimes (0.88 per 1,000 residents) and 107 property crimes (5.89 per 1,000 residents) “in the latest year for which data is available,” although it does not state what year that is.

In 2016, the Oxford substation had the highest clearance rate of the sheriff’s 12 substations. A total of 63.69 percent of the criminal cases were cleared, or closed.

“Our clearance rates have been very high for a long time now,” said Patterson, who’s commanded the substation since 2011.

The substation has funding approved for a total of 17 officers, which includes one lieutenant, one detective/sergeant, 13 deputies and two patrol investigators, one of whom serves as the school liaison officer.

In November, township officials voted to add a deputy to the afternoon shift as of Jan. 1 this year.

“We work hand-in-hand with the people in the community and with the township to keep trying to get staffing levels up because you need those officers to tackle these calls for service,” Patterson said.

In 2016, the substation handled 8,108 calls for service. Last year, that number swelled to 15,320.

Besides handling calls, having more officers on the street, where they’re visible in the community, allows them to do more proactive policing as opposed to reactive policing.

Reactive policing involves responding to calls, taking reports and investigating crimes after they occur.

Proactive policing entails routinely patrolling streets and neighborhoods in an effort to prevent crime by, for example, stopping home invasions before they take place and arresting drunk drivers before they cause accidents.

“(Proactive policing) provides you an opportunity to stop them in their tracks,” Patterson said. “You’re out there, you’re being seen, you’re nipping things in the bud.”

Curtis noted Oxford is fortunate to have a good number of sheriff’s deputies who live here and raise families here, so even when they’re not officially on duty, they’re still keeping a close eye on things and catching bad guys.

“They’re driving (their kids) back and forth to dance class and they arrest a drunk driver. They’re driving to the Cub Scouts (meeting) and they arrest some guy that’s stealing stuff,” he said. “They’re members of our community, they’re active in our community and they’re never off the job.”

In addition to Oxford Township, nine other communities patrolled by the sheriff’s office made the top 25 of the Safest Cities List.

They are Oakland Township (2), Brandon Township (4) , Independence Township (8), Springfield Township (10), Highland Township (11), Orion Township (14), Rochester Hills (18), Lyon Township (21) and Commerce Township (22).