St. Louis Named Most Dangerous U.S. City
St. Louis overtook Camden, N.J., as the nation's most dangerous city in 2009, according to a national study released Sunday.
The study by CQ Press found St. Louis had 2,070.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 429.4. That helped St. Louis beat out Camden, which topped last year's list and was the most dangerous city for 2003 and 2004.
Detroit, Flint, Mich., and Oakland, Calif., rounded out the top five. For the second straight year, the safest city with more than 75,000 residents was Colonie, N.Y.
The annual rankings are based on population figures and crime data compiled by the FBI. Some criminologists question the findings, saying the methodology is unfair.
Greg Scarbro, unit chief of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, said the FBI also discourages using the data for these types of rankings.
Kara Bowlin, spokeswoman for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said the city actually has been getting safer over the last few years. She said crime in St. Louis has gone down each year since 2007, and so far in 2010, St. Louis crime is down 7 percent.
Erica Van Ross, spokeswoman for the St. Louis Police Department, called the rankings irresponsible.
"Crime is based on a variety of factors. It's based on geography, it's based on poverty, it's based on the economy," Van Ross said.
"That is not to say that urban cities don't have challenges, because we do," Van Ross said. "But it's that it's irresponsible to use the data in this way."
© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The study by CQ Press found St. Louis had 2,070.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 429.4. That helped St. Louis beat out Camden, which topped last year's list and was the most dangerous city for 2003 and 2004.
Detroit, Flint, Mich., and Oakland, Calif., rounded out the top five. For the second straight year, the safest city with more than 75,000 residents was Colonie, N.Y.
The annual rankings are based on population figures and crime data compiled by the FBI. Some criminologists question the findings, saying the methodology is unfair.
Greg Scarbro, unit chief of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, said the FBI also discourages using the data for these types of rankings.
Kara Bowlin, spokeswoman for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said the city actually has been getting safer over the last few years. She said crime in St. Louis has gone down each year since 2007, and so far in 2010, St. Louis crime is down 7 percent.
Erica Van Ross, spokeswoman for the St. Louis Police Department, called the rankings irresponsible.
"Crime is based on a variety of factors. It's based on geography, it's based on poverty, it's based on the economy," Van Ross said.
"That is not to say that urban cities don't have challenges, because we do," Van Ross said. "But it's that it's irresponsible to use the data in this way."
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Tsarnaev friend implicates dead brother, self in murders 100 Comments
- Tornado victims start picking up the pieces
- Tornado's destructive path 17 Photos
- Brigadier general suspended over altercation with woman
- Up-close video of Moore, Okla., tornado Play Video
- Deadliest U.S. tornadoes 10 Photos
- Oklahoma tornado as seen by storm chasers Play Video
- At least 51 dead after massive Okla. tornado
This from the Houston Chronicle:
"Crime Rankings 2010-2011," published by CQ Press, ranks Houston's crime as ninth-highest for big cities nationwide, placing it on a list with the likes of Detroit and Columbus, Ohio., although the city has less than half the crimes per capita of those atop the rankings. Violent crime in Houston fell 8 percent during the first half of this year and was on a pace to reach the lowest rate since 2000, records show.
Parker said the data released by CQ Press are flawed because the publisher allows different cities to avoid counting certain crimes. New York does not count any robberies of property less than $1,000, she said, and Chicago frequently is not included in the list because it does not follow the standards requested by the FBI, which compiles the statistics.
What on earth are you on about? Drug dealers are in poor areas because thats where their customer base is. You are ignoring the vast majority of users to focus on the wealthy minority.
Drugs are driven by poverty, not by the wealthy as you imply. ...and you claim other people have their heads in the sand.
=================================
Come on, back to reality. How many other businesses are highly profitable in the poor area of town???? Say it with me, "none". So what gives? Do think all minorities are drug users and don't buy things like food and clothes. Is that it? Even if this was true, the drug business would still not be profitable.
BTW, they are in poor areas, because they know the politicians and "law enforcers" and people like you don't care what happens in the poor areas.
Minorities make up the vast majority of people in the US that sell drugs. And a large percentage of minorities use drugs.
Not sure how you qualify "funding", but it's certain that minorities play a huge role in the drug mess.
======================================================
You are wrong to think minorities are the ones in those high price cars going down to the slums to get their fix.
Why act like you have the solutions when you aren't even willing to admit to the main driver of the problem. Get your head out of the sand.
Drugs are driven by poverty, not by the wealthy as you imply. ...and you claim other people have their heads in the sand.
GunsInTheSky , the reason he doesnt provide a solution is because every time we conservatives come up with a solution we get blasted down and called names by you liberals. Until you libs can wake up and realize what is going on, we conservatives will simply buy better locks, alarm systems, guns...and we'll be a lot better prepared for crime than you.
======
Sure, sure.
Give one idea...it can be a recycled one, if that's all you have.
Humans have become too weird, and too violent. We have too many illegals, who are largely willing to commit crimes, because they expect the worse thing that will happen to them, is deportation (and they are right!)
Not to mention, that most city police departments lie about their crime rates. I know they do in DFW, and I suspect they do in most large cities. City governments want them to lie, because they want people to visit the city.
The only answer to the crime problems in this country, is to reduce the population, which isn't going to happen.
You think things are bad now, just wait another year or two, while no one can find a job, and their unemployment benefits are long gone. Then it is going to get really bad, in the US, and the Obama admin, doesn't have any answers, whatsoever!
I know white america doesn't like to think about their part of this problem. They rather look the other way and focus on their kid's soccer game.
This survey (and others) indicate otherwise. Although of course it is down to poverty rather than skin color.