Timing is everything.

The same week that police announced missing student Cindy Song may have been abducted, and the same week a pack of 30 people allegedly attacked two men, a report came out ranking State College as the eighth safest metropolitan area in the nation.

In a year in which Penn State has faced highly publicized riots, death threats and sexual assault cases, it seems ironic that students are now being told they live in one of the safest areas in the country.

Before Penn State pats itself on the back too heartily for this honor, we should all step back and think about what the report really means.

The safety report came from Morgan Quinto Press, an independent private research and publishing company located in Kansas.

The report equally weighs rates of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft to determine which metropolitan areas are the safest. It does not include minor offenses that may be common in a college town. It also doesn't take into account death threats, a serious problem at Penn State.

Also, people thinking about the report should keep in mind that certain statistics —such as rape numbers — can be deceiving. Rape is the most underreported so although there are relatively few rapes reported in State College each year, we must keep in mind that many victims remain silent and aren't included in the statistics.

In addition, we have to keep in mind that the report refers to State College as a whole, not just Penn State. Common sense tells us that we are more likely to become crime victims in densely populated downtown State College than we are in the outlying farming areas of State College.

Therefore, although the report is positive, we have to take it with a grain of salt. It doesn't magically make Penn State safer than it was last week, and we can't be lulled into complacency by the report.