By Kat Meyer

Assoc. Community News Editor

The Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland metropolitan area was ranked safest in the state, along with Ann Arbor and Lansing-East Lansing, according to the serious crime figures released last Monday in the FBI's 2000 Uniform Crime Report, despite relatively high rates of larceny-theft and rape.

The violent crimes covered in the report are murder-manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Other crimes included in the index were property crime, robbery, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.

The rates are per 100,000 residents and based on reports from 17,000 city, county, and state law enforcement agencies from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Initial numbers from this year are also continuing to fall in the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland area.

`` We are encouraged,'' said Grand Rapids Police Chief Dolan, ``we know that not all crime is reported, but the serious crimes are.''

``This is a good barometer of the health of this community,'' Dolan told the Grand Rapids Press. He attributed the rates to good policing and work by neighborhood organizations.

Detroit, Kalamazoo-Battle Creek and Flint had the highest rate of violent crime in the state.

Despite Grand Rapids' `safe' title, rape per 100,000 residents was 48.4 compared to Detroit's rape rate of 42.5 last year. Grand Rapids also had more larceny and theft than Detroit--2,517.3 compared to Detroit's 2279.6 in 2000.

The highest murder-manslaughter rate was Flint, with 10.7 per 100,000 residents, followed by Detroit (10.6) and Benton Harbor (5.6). At the other side of the spectrum were Ann Arbor with 1.8 per 100,000, Jackson at 1.9 and Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland area at 2.4.

The Benton Harbor region's violent crime rate has declined since 1995, when it had one of the three highest in the state, along with the Flint and Detroit areas. In 1995, the lowest rates were in the Ann Arbor, Lansing-East Lansing and Jackson regions.

In Michigan, the overall crime index rate (for violent and non-violent crime) was highest in the Flint are, at 5,538.9 reports per 100,000 residents.

Indexes for the other regions were reported as: Kalamazoo-Battle Creek (5,160.6), Detroit (4,686.5), Benton Harbor (4,456.8), Jackson (4,225.6), Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland (3,902.2), Lansing-East Lansing (3,690.7) and Ann Arbor (3,055.5).

Last year, metropolitan areas around the nation with the highest rates of violent crime were Pine Bluff, Ark. (1,443.6); Miami (1,207.4); and Lubbock, Texas (1,093.6).

The three areas with the lowest rates were Danbury, Conn. (102.6), Provo-Orem, Utah (94.5) and Bismarck, N.D. (78.3).