The distinction is that this isn't just a small town, it's a town with a strong community and it's just out of the way enough to be unappealing to transients.
Have lived in LA, Santa Cruz, SJ, SF, DC, New York and PA. SF is the only city where I have had my car broken into and all of my things stolen. Told the police I found literally at the Starbucks two parking spots away from my car and they legit declined to look into it.
In Denver, when I worked for a neighborhood paper briefly ca. 1980, one of my jobs was to check the blotter at the local precinct. I discovered that the Denver police kept two lists: one for burglaries, one for all else. My recollection is that there were usually a dozen or so burglaries each week.
This is baffling to me. I'm currently in a medium sized city. When someone in my social circle has something stolen, it's a big deal. The last time it happened was several years back, and it upset the person enough that they moved to a new neighborhood as soon as possible.
It's so weird to read these accounts from people who think constant theft and crime are just normal.
Absolutely not. You may not believe it, but you're living in a bad place.
Japan. Been here for over 5 years, zero theft.
I live in Germany. The only time I ever had something stolen was at age 9, by a classmate who was shortly thereafter diagnosed as a cleptomaniac and who received therapy to deal with it.
Generally speaking, thefts do happen here, too. But if theft is of particular concern for you, it's not all that hard to significantly reduce your chances. Pick an apartment that's not on the ground floor, so people cannot get in through the windows. Put your wallet in a pocket that can be closed with a zipper, and pickpockets won't bother with you. Armed robberies are just not a thing because of gun control laws. Sure, there are a few ones across the entire country every year, but it's rare enough to make the news every time.
What a crazy world we live in, where not wanting to be mugged and have your stuff stolen is politically unpopular....
It's funny, this is exactly what happens when I talk to my SF friends about crime. They have an immediate defensive reaction to insist it's not that bad, but then they slowly start recalling various crime experiences they've had in the past year. It's as if the constant background level of crime has reset their expectations of what's bad and what's normal.