First, Ocean Pines is not a town (municipality).

So, how does Ocean Pines, an HOA, get into that safest town category while other HOAs in Maryland do not? Are residents of River Run or Glen Riddle not as safe as residents of Ocean Pines?

It goes back perhaps 10 years ago when the Maryland legislature passed a law making the Ocean Pines Police Department a full state police agency, same as municipality police forces around the State like Baltimore or Ocean City.

As a result, it seems the crime reports from Ocean Pines now go into the FBI uniform crime reporting database. That database is used to determine how safe cities/towns are based on the crime reporting.

Obviously, or one would hope obviously, OPA has very little crime compared to municipalities.

The stats simply prove what should be obvious.