As someone who has never been to Detroit except for layovers at the city’s surprisingly nice airport, I can say that people who don’t know much about Detroit know three things — Motown, cars, and violence. And guess what? The city just topped the list of the most dangerous cities in the United States, beating last year’s “winner,” St. Louis.
But some experts are crying foul on the much-publicized yearly list from Congressional Quarterly.
Detroit police officials released a statement Sunday night disputing the report, saying it fails to put crime information into proper context.
“Every year this organization sends out a press release with big, bold lettering that labels a certain city as Most Dangerous, USA,” Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said in the release.
“It really makes you wonder if the organization is truly concerned with evaluating crime or increasing their profit,” said Bully-Cummings, who noted the complete report is available only by purchase. “With crime experts across the country routinely denouncing the findings, I believe the answer is clear.”
Ranked Most Dangerous
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Flint, Michigan
4. Oakland, California
5. Camden, New Jersey
6. Birmingham, Alabama
7. North Charleston, South Carolina
8. Memphis, Tennessee
9. Richmond, California
10. Cleveland, Ohio
Ranked Safest
1. Mission Viejo, California
2. Clarkstown, New York
3. Brick Township, New Jersey
4. Amherst, New York
5. Sugar Land, Texas
6. Colonie, New York
7. Thousand Oaks, California
8. Newton, Massachusetts
9. Toms River Township, N.J.
10. Lake Forest, California
I’m actually amazed. A few years ago, I believe Newark New Jersey was # 1. My neck of the woods (San Bernardino) was #16. This year, Newark is #22 and Dino is #24. Compton shot up quite a bit. It was previously one below San Bernardino. Sad stuff really…
Nope, it isn’t misleading. They were quiet last year when they weren’t #1. What people want to know is what is their chance of getting killed if I’m in your town. I’ve lived in one of the above towns and visited several. Nothing seems off. I will say that I’m shocked that Camden isn’t top 3, but then again, haven’t visited the top 3. What do I think about when I hear Detroit: violence, Motown and where car companies used to be.
I’m apartment hunting as I type this. I’m moving to Newton y’all!
Where can this complete list be found??
I, quite frankly, don’t think it’s as violent as it’s made out to be. People act like Detroit is Baghdad or some shit. Unless you live in Detroit or its suburbs you really can’t comment on anything. This ranking sounds like horseshit to me anyways.
But hey, Detroit has been dogged for years. People like to bash the city even though they know nothing about it.
I was born and raised in Detroit. The media spins this negative garbage about Detroit. Detroit is not a place to be wandering around without street smarts and we do have our share of crime, but I wouldn’t say it’s different from Chicago, Miami, New York, or any other urban jungle.
I would have to agree with di-my-e, being born and raised in the second most dangerous city in the US (STL)…
The police chief of Detroit was on CNN this afternoon as was the man who headed up the report. Apparently, the statisitics used WERE manipulated to get this particular list. For example, in most surveys of this nature crimes are given a numerical value. Petty crimes and violent crimes get lower and higher values respectively. In the report that just came out, they didn’t do that. It gave all crimes equal value. So car theft was equal to rape and murder.
The media isn’t spinning anything. If you look at crime rates, these cities are definitely up there.
You can also analyze it by specific type of crime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.....crime_rate
You can download it for cities of the various sizes, add them together and analyze. There’s very little spin going on.
Murder rate:
1. Detroit
2. Bmore
3. NOLA
Forcible rape:
1. Cleveland
2. St. Louis
3. Anchorage
Aggravated assault:
1. Detroit
2. St. Louis
3. Memphis
Robbery:
1. Cleveland
2. St. Louis
3. Oakland
Property crime rate (per 100,000):
Miami 5163
Detroit 7048
NYC 1879
Chicago 4579
Los Angeles 2718
Boston 4462
Cleveland 6232
Violent crime rate:
Detroit 2418
Miami 1509
Cleveland 1546
Boston 1339
LA 786
Chicago 610
NYC 637
I don’t think the media is spinning it, but the criteria used was not even the criteria the FBI uses to rank cities. So says the FBI and the ppl that did the report.
Perhaps a better way to put this is to do it by crime. If you like being alive, live in X and not Y. If you like not being raped, live here, but not there. Still, all those top 10 would still be on several lists. That’s actually more damning though when you see it ALL put out there.
Ummm, how is philadelphia not number 1? I thought that city (my hometown) had the most violent crime rate per capita.