FBI's Most/Least Dangerous Cities

[gregw]

The FBI rankings are out. Providence didn't do so great though I don't know how it compares with previous years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061030/ap_on_...ime_list_glance

[runawayjim]

i'd say that's not too bad... warwick is more dangerous than providence.

EDIT: i read the whole thing wrong... the list is in reverse... safest to most dangerous. i take it all back. still... i'd say that's not too bad. boston is more dangerous than providence.

[BBascule]

Random pointless observation:

The two most dangerous cities on the list had baseball teams in the World Series:

370. Detroit

371. St. Louis

[dgreco]

Random pointless observation:

The two most dangerous cities on the list had baseball teams in the World Series:

370. Detroit

371. St. Louis

[gregw]

Its crazy I went to St. Louis last year, andto be honest it is really nice except for East St. Louis, which is the worst place I have ever seen, but Im surprised all of St.L was in one category, and considered the worst in the country. Either way go midwest.

[Recchia]

I think East St Louis is its own city.

[gregw]

Yeah, Kozol said it was in Savage Inequalities.

[quente]

I must be getting tired - I looked on the list a few times and can't find Providence! I did find Cranston (#24) and Warwick (#42) but no Providence.

[runawayjim]

I must be getting tired - I looked on the list a few times and can't find Providence! I did find Cranston (#24) and Warwick (#42) but no Providence.

[quente]

#282

[dgreco]

Thank you!

Certainly nothing to write home about. New Bedford (#254) is safer than Providence?!? Wow.

[runawayjim]

I was certainly surprised when I was saw Providence so low, because besides the few bad areas I just don't see providence as being dangerous. Maybe I am young and nieve?

[Baines]

a lot can affect those rankings... for instance, hartford became the 8th most dangerous one year because someone lit a fire in a nursing home killing 19 people. that counted as 19 murders.

[gregw]

I don't think there's any statistical aberration (like in Hartford with the arson case) that explains why Providence didn't do so well this year. It's a tough and impoverished city in many ways though you would never know it from the look of some areas. Fortunately, I know that violent crime has been trending downward over the past couple of years due at least in part to community policing and better leadership at the Providence Police Dept.

[quente]

I was certainly surprised when I was saw Providence so low, because besides the few bad areas I just don't see providence as being dangerous. Maybe I am young and nieve?

[dgreco]

There were lots of surprises on the list; who knew that a place like Orlando, FL attracted so many hardcore malcontents?

This site (http://providence.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm) helps explain the data in greater detail by comparing Violent Crime and Property Crime. This data is a year old but you can see that Providence is well above the national average in all crime statistics; this is especially true of car theft - three times the national average! (Time to buy that car alarm!)

In the yellow box at the top of the page, you can compare Providence crime stats to other cities; if you want to feel good, I'd suggest comparing us to Camden, NJ!

The odd thing is that whenever I remember seeing a story in the ProJo about Providence crime statistics, they always focus on how crime has gone down. Evidently, in spite of this "downward trend", we're still well above the national average in all crime stats. Interesting spin . . .

[BBascule]

Another random pointless observation:

145 New York

196 Lowell, MA

[runawayjim]

Another random pointless observation:

145 New York

196 Lowell, MA

[dgreco]

new york is actually an amazingly safe city for its size.

[runawayjim]

That is surprising, but I also think new york gets a bad rap for all the other cities around them.

[Cotuit]

New York gets a bad rep because it was a cesspool through much of the 70s and 80s.