Photo: Larry Pieniazek, Lar (commons) or Lar(en:wp) (primary) · CC BY 2.5Who polices Forest Hills, and what they report
Forest Hills has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Kent County. The Kent County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Forest Hills alone, and no Safety Grade.
What stands out about safety in Forest Hills
Policed by the county
Forest Hills is a census-designated place, with no town government. Crimes there are reported to the FBI inside the Kent County Sheriff’s Office’s totals for the county. County police ↓
Counts, not rates
The FBI doesn’t publish how many people the Kent County Sheriff’s Office covers, so its totals can’t be turned into a per-resident rate or a grade for Forest Hills. County police ↓
The nearest graded towns
The closest Michigan towns with their own police figures are East Grand Rapids (B+, 6 mi), Lowell (B, 7 mi), Kentwood (D, 7 mi). Nearby towns can differ a lot from Forest Hills. Nearest ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What the Kent County Sheriff’s Office reports
Crimes reported to the FBI for the whole area the department covers, by year.
Reports to the FBI for the parts of Kent County without police of their own, which include Forest Hills.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
Also reports crimes in Kent County to the FBI.
Property crimes
Violent crimes
2025 offenses reported by the Kent County Sheriff’s Office
Counts, not rates: the FBI doesn’t publish how many people each agency covers. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, Tables 10–11.
The nearest Michigan towns with a Safety Grade
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Grand Rapids | B+ | 6 mi | 0.7 | 10.4 |
| Lowell | B | 7 mi | 1.8 | 6.8 |
| Kentwood | D | 7 mi | 4.9 | 22.6 |
| Grand Rapids | D | 8 mi | 9.0 | 26.1 |
| Wyoming | C− | 12 mi | 4.7 | 22.2 |
| Rockford | B | 13 mi | 1.5 | 8.1 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Forest Hills. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Forest Hills.
Eight people died in crashes on Forest Hills’s roads in 2019–2023
Forest Hills had 8 fatal crashes in five years, in which eight people died; 2 were cyclists. 1 died in crash on an Interstate.
That is about what is typical for Michigan towns of 25,000–100,000 people: at their median rate (5.3 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Forest Hills’s size would see about 8 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Forest Hills’s own rate (5.6) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Forest Hills and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ada Township | — | — | — |
| Cannon Township | — | — | — |
| Grand Rapids Township | — | — | — |
| Cascade Township | — | — | — |
| Kentwood | D | 4.9 | 22.6 |
| Vergennes Township | — | — | — |
| Lowell Township | — | — | — |
| Plainfield Township | — | — | — |
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Ada Township, Cannon Township, Grand Rapids Township, Cascade Township, Vergennes Township, Lowell Township and Plainfield Township have no FBI figures of their own for 2023–2025.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Forest Hills
Is Forest Hills, MI safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Forest Hills. Forest Hills has no police department of its own: it’s an unincorporated community (a census-designated place) in Kent County. The Kent County Sheriff’s Office reports to the FBI for the parts of the county without police of their own, so there are no figures for Forest Hills alone, and no Safety Grade. The nearest Michigan towns with a grade are East Grand Rapids (B+, 6 mi), Lowell (B, 7 mi), Kentwood (D, 7 mi).
Who polices Forest Hills?
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office. Forest Hills is an unincorporated community, and the department reports to the FBI for the parts of Kent County without police of their own.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Forest Hills.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.