Worst crime in the D?

[urban_izzy]

As I am sure many of you have read or heard about this already. Detroit tops the list as most dangerous city. Where as Troy, Farmington Hills, and Sterling Heights make the top 25 safest. I wanted to find out what others think about this assessment. I certainly think that they need to look at individual neighborhoods rather than take a city as a whole. Much like Detroit I have visited St. Louis and not felt like I was in any harms way.

The rankings...

http://www.cqpress.com/docs/City%201%20-%2...om%2025_14E.pdf

A positive look....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toby-barlow/...ty_b_73221.html

[RustTown]

It's good to see responsible organizations and municipalities pre-empting such empty and misleading information, but I'm afraid that that doesn't stop the damage from being done. "Most Dangerous" has always been a highly subjective issue to me, especially when you consider that you're many more times likely to be killed by a spouse, and in many places a traffic incident, than a random murderer. These 'reports' are labeled with this subjective title to do little more than sell their 'report', not to critically analyze much of anything, and do far more harm than good. The real truth of the matter that in even these "dangerous" cities, your chance of being randomly mugged, raped, murdered (etc.) are extremely rare, if even many times greater than in other cities. The labeling of the "Safest" and "Most Dangerous" cities is so irresonsible and counterproductive it's not funny.

Hell, when you even have the FBI (of all organizations) coming out against what they call the misuse of their data, you know there's a problem with these numbers.

[TheDetroitCity99]

Wow this was depressing news. I get a call from my sister who lives in Chiacgo saying I'm calling about the big news!! I get excited and ask, what?? She says, Detroit's the most dangerous city in the country!! Ha, she already thought Detroit was a joke, I can't, Imagine what she thinks of it now. That made me think of something. Maybe Detroit should work on it's crime first instead of building towering condos and casino resrorts. They won't stop crime . This reputation is the one that keeps people away.

[wolverine]

^ Aside from horrible spelling errors, your post doesn't make much sense. A city must do all that it can from all ends (improving schools, lowering crime, attracting new residents and businesses) to improve itself. How can you possibly improve a police force without attracting new businesses support them through the tax base.

[Zissou]

Wolverine nailed it on the head. I hear it all the time from people who say Detroit should focus on schools and crime instead of developing downtown and midtown. The things arent mutually exclusive. The city is capable of doing all of these things but to say that they shouldnt focus on rebuilding downtown because of some crap survey is just plain ignorance.

So Detroitcity99 you are someone who works in the city and considered living in the city, why dont you set your sister straight on the reality of Detroit? It seems to me your oppinions are easily swayed.

[detwaa84]

Isn't there an official annual report that is released by the "Morgan Quitno Press" on most dangerous and safest cities. Where did this one all the sudden come from? I've heard criticism on the findings before, but not like this. Can someone tell me what's different this year?

[Gary_Kreie]

As I am sure many of you have read or heard about this already. Detroit tops the list as most dangerous city. Where as Troy, Farmington Hills, and Sterling Heights make the top 25 safest. I wanted to find out what others think about this assessment. I certainly think that they need to look at individual neighborhoods rather than take a city as a whole. Much like Detroit I have visited St. Louis and not felt like I was in any harms way.

The rankings...

http://www.cqpress.com/docs/City%201%20-%2...om%2025_14E.pdf

A positive look....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toby-barlow/...ty_b_73221.html

[Jasoncw]

I think condos do lower the crime rate. Abandoned buildings and parkings lots vs. a populated neighborhood with a community. They also usually have some kind of security system which can help out, and sometimes they even have private guards. And as wolverine said, they provide tax money.

[hudkina]

Wouldn't it make sense that Detroit stop providing the FBI with crime data? If Minneapolis and Chicago can do it, why not Detroit? If CQ Press doesn't know Detroit's crime rate, then they can't rank it, and people will forget about Detroit's crime issues. After all, I bet if you asked most people if Chicago is a dangerous city they would say "no", but in reality it would probably rank somewhere in the Top 25.

[TheDetroitCity99]

Hmmmm Well everytime I try she laughs because come on. Comparing Detroit to Chicago is noooo easy task. I know we all want to have Detroit pride but when you ask someone, even who lives here, what city do you like more?? Which do you think they will choose?? The choice isn't based on which city is better, but on reputation. And with a skyrocketing crime rate it creates a reputation that seems to be unstopble.Now enjoy tearing this one up, I love watching you guys freak out if there's a comma in the wrong place =D

[Zissou]

You cant compare Detroit to Chicago, doing so is just silly. But you can defend the city and point out the flaws in those statistics.

[wolverine]

Hmmmm Well everytime I try she laughs because come on. Comparing Detroit to Chicago is noooo easy task.

[Jasoncw]

The crime rate isn't even sky rocketing either. Some categories have stayed about the same, while many have decreased. Crime is generally going down. Search google for some stats.

[Allison Slater]

...

Congratulations.

Edit: Woah, I didn't know you visited UP, JCW. Many of my Sim City projects would be nothing if it weren't for your fantastic building models.

[wolverine]

^ ay I'm on ST-BSP too.

[Allison Slater]

Anyhow, is the crime decrease mentioned just above for the entire city of Detroit, or the metro? How does the downtown core fare?

I'm a really skinny guy. The kind your average joe could likely throw over a fence with ease. I've always sort of avoided Detroit for such reasons. (Because if I were to go to Detroit, it'd involve being at a club, which would mean being down there at night.) Probably an irrational fear, as I spent 4AM-7AM in downtown Chicago alone before without worry.

[Ka3kab]

Just a little off topic, but it would seem to me that maybe Malibu, CA is the most dangerous city in America, at least today. I wish these idiots that compiled these lists would take crap like this and include it in the list. Tornados, Hurricanes, wildland fires, earthquakes, mudslides and floods can kill and injure people too.

[Jasoncw]

I'm so famous!

[wolverine]

tslater, I think few of us have ever been hassled around Detroit at any hour. Of course just because some incident happens, doesn't mean it can't happen anywhere. My girlfriend has had 2 people mugged at gunpoint outside her building, and she lives in safe Lincoln park (Chicago).

I wouldn't worry about getting confronted in Detroit, especially when most of these crimes were drug related or the victims knew their attackers..reserve a few other for stray bullets or drive-bys.

When some of us read these rankings we ask, "Why am I not dead yet?" The truth is, if you are downtown at or around the clubs, you are probably very safe.

[Michigonian]

I've been to Detroit several times and haven't been shot at. I live in Oregon now and I've found that there is even more crime out here, because there aren't as many police officers who catch offenders. I've been witness to gunfire in the wild west town of The Dalles, OR and you don't see that city on the list. Also Portland, OR has had frequent violent crimes on the MAX light rail and you don't see Portland on the list either. Car theft is also popular in Portland and it's suburbs. A friend of mine's car was stolen twice in the 1 year that she has lived there. I think that Detroit is more closely scrutinized than many other cities, especially when compared to the western US, and is part of the reason why it gets reported as the most dangerous city in America. Maybe if there was a list for most meth lab, or heroine related crime in the US you would see Portland as no. 1 or 2. Other than that, I think that Detroit's crime issue wouldn't grab so much national attention, or be as much of a deterant for people to move there if the city had a better economy.

[Michi]

tslater, you can come to downtown Detroit any time of day or night and be just as safe as you would be anywhere else anytime else.

Whenever the issue of crime comes up in argument regarding Detroit, I always provide the link to this study. It puts downtown's safety into perspective:

http://www.tedconline.com/uploads/Downtown..._Study_2006.pdf

This is downtown Detroit (surrounded by the freeways):

You can go anywhere within this area and I would compare the safety to that of walking down Michigan Avenue in Chicago or Yonge Street in Toronto.

Greater downtown is also very safe, but has those pockets of areas (mainly near freeways) that you probably won't have a reason to go to mainly because they are designed as highway commercial (like gas stations, strip malls, and DOT service stations, etc). They're built for the car.