HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Northern Kentucky University is being named the safest college campus in the greater Cincinnati area.

“I lived on campus my freshman year and there were never really any issues aside from people in the dorms not knowing how to cook and setting off the fire alarm,” said student Vivi Vincent.

Vincent’s is holding a summer job decorating shoes for Smoove Creations in Newport.

The soon-to-be-junior said her experience on campus is, overall, safe.

“It’s also nice cause I can study in the library in the evenings and walk back to my car after 10 p.m. and not be worried about something happening,” Vincent said.

Smoove Creations is a business that started at NKU. Its owner, Isiah Kelly echoes Vincent's remarks.

“I had a good relationship with all the officers and they, along with me, they really went out their way to establish a relationship with a lot of the students on campus,” Kelly said.

Lieutenant Will Love said the relationship building is the key factor.

“What we’re doing it’s working. The students, they’re listening. We do safety awareness programs throughout the year, self-defense programs throughout the year, presentations throughout the year, and like said we try to build relationships,” Love said.

This week, NKU ranked 23rd on this year’s Safest College Campuses in America list. The website, YourLocalSecurity.com, analyzed campus crime data from the FBI. 

It looked at data from the U.S Department of Education’s campus safety and security and the FBI’s 2018 uniform crime report. 

“What we’re doing now is every university freshman class we are being involved with them actually going up there talking to them about safety awareness,” Love said.

Love said he intends to build on this high note going forward.

In addition, to the safety ranking, NKU offers a breakdown of every emergency action plan to students should there be in an incident.

The University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg was lucky number 13 on the list.