Group ranks most dangerous U.S. cities

CNN ^ | Nov 21st, 2005

[laney]

CAMDEN, New Jersey (AP) -- For the second year in a row this destitute city of Camden, New Jersey, has been named the nation's most dangerous, according to a company's annual ranking based on crime statistics.

Last year, the distinction seemed to hurt city boosters' feelings more than it harmed revitalization efforts. This time, city leaders are offended by the ranking, calling it unfair.

"We're doing so many nice things now. It's unfortunate that somebody always wants to bad-mouth Camden," Mayor Gwendolyn Faison said.

The city took the top spot last year from Detroit, which remained No. 2 in the most dangerous city rankings, to be released Monday by Morgan Quitno Press.

The Lawrence, Kansas-based company publishes "City Crime Rankings," an annual reference book.

Listed as the most dangerous cities are: Camden, New Jersey; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Flint, Michigan; Richmond, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia; New Orleans, Louisiana; Gary, Indiana; Birmingham, Alabama

[Skylab]

Something about those cities... can't quite put my finger on it though.

They are all majority black:

1. Camden, New Jersey, Black (53.3%)
2. Detroit, Michigan, Black (81.6%)
3. St. Louis, Missouri, Black (51.2%)
4. Flint, Michigan, Black (53.3%)
5. Richmond, Virginia, Black (57.2%)
6. Baltimore, Maryland, Black (64.3%)
7. Atlanta, Georgia, Black (61.4%)
8. New Orleans, Louisiana, Black (67.3%)
9. Gary, Indiana, Black (84.0%)
10.Birmingham, Alabama, Black (73.5%)

[maestro]

ur# 9......'ACLU' heavens all,........

don't forget to add,.........................Boulder, Colorado

and,.....

(Jesus will 'Rapture' the CHURCH,.....NOT the Kingdom!!!)

[AngryJawa]

All of the poor 10 (except maybe Atlanta) are decaying inner cities with little job opportunity, growth, or promise.

No. Atlanta "proper" consists of several small islands of wealth floating in a dangerous sea of New Orleans-style, thug-controlled, entitlement-mentality mayhem.

The outer rings of suburbs are where the money and the sanity are.

[Charles Henrickson]

Most Dangerous 25 Metros:
1 Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI M.D.
2 New Orleans, LA
3 Memphis, TN-MS-AR
4 Sumter, SC
5 Miami-Dade County, FL M.D.
6 Stockton, CA
7 Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
8 Florence, SC
9 Hot Springs, AR
10 Myrtle Beach, SC
11 Pine Bluff, AR
12 Flint, MI
13 Saginaw, MI
14 Little Rock, AR
15 Tucson, AZ
16 Modesto, CA
17 Albuquerque, NM
18 Jackson, TN
19 Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC
20 Baltimore-Towson, MD
21 Wichita Falls, TX
22 Houston, TX
23 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
24 Tallahassee, FL
25 Los Angeles County, CA M.D.

Safest 25 Metros:
1 Logan, UT-ID
2 Fond du Lac, WI
3 Glens Falls, NY
4 Appleton, WI
5 Sheboygan, WI
6 Columbus, IN
7 La Crosse, WI-MN
8 Oshkosh-Neenah, WI
9 Bangor, ME
10 Bismarck, ND
11 Eau Claire, WI
12 State College, PA
13 Binghamton, NY
14 Wausau, WI
15 Fargo, ND-MN
16 Nassau-Suffolk, NY M.D.
17 Portland, ME
18 Rockingham County, NH M.D.
19 Edison, NJ M.D.
20 Williamsport, PA
21 Owensboro, KY
22 Elizabethtown, KY
23 Jefferson City, MO
24 Harrisonburg, VA
25 Rochester, MN

[laney]

You got it! Me also Kali Freeper! Such wonderful weather we are having! :)

[SteveMcKing]

BLUE. The word is "BLUE".

Sheesh....

[BostonianRightist]

It is surprising how rich, safe cities can always be so close to welfare-dependant, crime-ridden cities.

It seems the only time a crime is committed in Newton or Wellesley is when the criminal is a kid bussed over from Dot or Roxbury - for "diverse" reasons, of course.

[ArrogantBustard]

Washington, D(istrict of) C(riminals) is a remarkably small city ... its population is just under the threshold usually used for these crime-rate rankings.

[Pessimist]

"Can't be blue. GA and Bama are red states"

I wonder if Atlanta is in a blue county though. That would be my guess.

Ohio is a nominally red state too, but up here around Cuyahoga county (the Cleveland area), forget it: true blue.

[MEG33]

;)

[M1Tanker]

Michigan has a "Shall issue" CCW system, but it is expensive (over $100) and one must fill out a lot of paperwork. But most of all, one must have the local police conduct "safety inspections" on all handguns owned (re: overt, un-Constitutional registration).

I just PCS'd to Detroit from Kentucky and feel a who lot less safer there (I think per capita, Fallujah is safer for US citizens than Detroit). My wife grew up in Detroit and is somewhat blind to the perils since she was raised in Harper Woods. I, of course feel differently and will carry everywhere I go.

Michigan, a Red state with 3 Blue counties (2 in Detroit). Unfortunatly those three counties do their best to screw up the rest of the state.

[ArrogantBustard]

I stand corrected ... Washington City is on the same list as Camden, NJ. Our beloved District of Criminals ranks #13.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Tabular list.

Texas's biggest cities are in both groups. El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth among the safest; Dallas and Houston among the most dangerous.

Mostly, manufacturing cities seem dangerous; commercial seem safest; the trend isn't universal.

[Pessimist]

"All of the poor 10 (except maybe Atlanta) are decaying inner cities with little job opportunity, growth, or promise."

Yeah, but how did they get that way?

[School of Rational Thought]

"Listed as the most dangerous cities are: Camden, New Jersey; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Flint, Michigan; Richmond, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia; New Orleans, Louisiana; Gary, Indiana; Birmingham, Alabama"


I don't get it. Aren't these cities some of the most diverse?

[Melas]

Please, no one is going to fall for the coy routine. The faux inability to put your finger on it is just a pathetic veil you're trying to stick between your post and banishement. Everyone knows you mean that those cities are primarily black. Racism is becoming common on FR.

[Charles Henrickson]

Actually, among cities of 500,000 or more, Washington DC ranks as #3 most dangerous, behind Detroit and Baltimore and ahead of Memphis.

[ElkGroveDan]

I was an account exec for a medical company in the late 80s-early 90s. I went to Michigan with our sales rep for the area and he took me around the state to see some major accounts. We had exactly one account to see in Detroit. The sales rep insisted that I drive with him and also that we not wear suits and ties that day. We stopped at a gas station a few miles away and called ahead. When we got there someone was waiting at a barbed wire topped fence to open the gate and let us in so that we would never have to get out of the car. (Wish I could tell you what part of town it was, but that was a long time ago).

[Pessimist]

Is simply rcognizing a fact racism?

[ArrogantBustard]

Looks like I was reading the overall list ... missed the other one. Interesting that Bawl'mer rates worse than Washington. They're both bad, of course, but I would have predicted it the other way around.