Officials have said that increasing drug-related violence along the U. S.-Mexico border remains mostly on the Mexican side, sparing many Arizona border towns.

The Arizona Republic reported on Sunday that Crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border communities have not risen even as drug-related killings and assaults have spiraled out of control on the other side of the border.

The newspaper also said that Nogales, Ariz., Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez refutes politicians' assertions that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning American border communities.

Bermudez says, "We have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico. You can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Arizona, is one of the safest places to live in all of America."

Bermudez further says that Nogales, Sonora, on the Mexican side of the border, has been notorious for drug-related kidnappings, shootouts and beheadings but drug smugglers crossing the border do not routinely target U. S. residents.

He also said that with 500 U. S. Border Patrol agents and countless other law enforcement officers swarming the Arizona side, smugglers try to pass through as quickly and quietly as possible.

Bermudez further noted, "Everywhere you turn, there's some kind of law enforcement looking at you. Per capita, we probably have the highest amount of any city in the United States." (With Inputs from Agencies)