City Crime Rankings Once Again Names Amherst, New York America’s Safest City

Morgan Quitno Awards ^ | 11-25-2003 | Morgan Quitno

[Cagey]

Detroit, Michigan Returns as Most Dangerous

Lawrence, KS—Amherst, New York is on a winning streak. For the fourth consecutive year, the citizens of this upstate New York community can boast that they live in America’s Safest City. The honor will be announced in the new edition of City Crime Rankings, an annual reference book of crime statistics and rankings slated for publication in early December. The results of the tenth annual Safest City Award, which compares crime in 350 cities, were announced today by Morgan Quitno Press, a Lawrence, Kansas-based publishing and research company. At the opposite end of the crime scale, Detroit, Michigan returns to the spotlight as the nation’s most dangerous city.

“Amherst’s record speaks for itself, “said Scott Morgan, President of Morgan Quitno Press. With crime rates that are among the lowest in the nation, it is no wonder that this community shines year after year in our annual competition.”

The Morgan Quitno Safest City Award is based on a city’s rate for six basic crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. All cities of 75,000+ populations that reported crime data to the FBI for the six crime categories were included in the rankings. Final 2002 statistics, released by the FBI on October 27, 2003, were used to determine the rankings.

Joining Amherst at the top of the Safest City rankings were Brick Township, NJ; Mission Viejo, CA; Simi Valley, CA and Cary, NC.

At the opposite end of the Morgan Quitno crime scale, Detroit, Michigan returns as the nation’s most dangerous city. The Motor City anchored the crime rankings in 1999, 2000 and 2001 before it was ousted last year by St. Louis, Missouri. Detroit is joined at the bottom of the crime rankings by (in ascending order) St. Louis, MO; Atlanta, GA; Camden, NJ and Washington, DC.

In addition to ranking the safety of cities, Morgan Quitno Press also examined crime in metropolitan areas. In those rankings, Bangor, ME was this year’s Safest Metropolitan Area. The Pine Bluff, AR metropolitan area ranked as the most dangerous.

The findings of the tenth annual Safest City and Metropolitan Area Awards are announced in City Crime Rankings 10th Edition, an annual reference book from Morgan Quitno Press. The newly updated edition of this volume will be available December 8th. The Safest City and Metropolitan Area rankings are one of five Morgan Quitno Awards announced annually by the publishing company. These other annual announcements designate the nation’s Most Livable State (a state quality of life survey); the Healthiest State (a survey of state health care); the Safest and Most Dangerous States (a state crime survey) and the Smartest State (a state education survey).

Additional information regarding the results of the tenth annual Safest City and Metropolitan Area Awards is available from Morgan Quitno Press via the Internet at www.morganquitno.com. The website provides methodology and rankings of the top and bottom 25 cities. A full report featuring information for all 350 cities is available online for $3.00.

[general_re]

Yeppers. Of course, looking over Wings, the "transportation" component of your comprehensive fee is 8% of $680.50, or $54.44 per semester, whether you ride the Bluebirds or not - maybe it would have been cheaper to negotiate a reduced rate on Metro passes for those who need them, instead of charging everyone ;)

[kitkat]

Did you know that the Corps of Engineers told U.B. not to build on the north campus because the whole area was originally swamp? But the land was donated to U.B., so it was used. They dredged and created a beautiful lake on the campus to take up the extra water. But the corps says the buildings are shifting because of the unsteady land.

Also, if you ever wondered why the student dorms are placed so far from the main buildings, it was because of the student uprisings in the '60s. The uprisings were pretty frightening on the south campus and I suspect the admin. didn't want a repeat of that with direct transportation from the city to the north campus.

Perhaps, with the communist organizations directing much of the current crop of protesters, the admin. may have been right.

Also, I'd love to hear from either of you about the rumor concerning the new apartment buildings next to the lake. I was told there was a newspaper article in the Buffalo Snooze which said those apts. are rented free of charge to students from foreign countries. Have you heard anything about this?

[general_re]

The free apartments for foreign students thing is a new one on me, but I've been away for some time now. Jude would probably have a better handle on that one than me. It sounds about right for UB, though ;)

[FreeRep]

Hi, I got a email from a out-of-state friend, who said his local "liberal" University has not done enough on crime. They, local liberals, say the school is safe he said it now is not. He ask me to vote NO, he needs help on the No's.

Has Fort Hays State University done enough to ensure the welfare and safety of students?.

NO!

http://www.hdnews.net/

thanks Cagey and all;

[jude24]

But the corps says the buildings are shifting because of the unsteady land. Interesting. I had heard that the foundations were steep enough that UB didn't have anything to worry about; but I wouldn't go up against the Army Corps of engineers. Also, if you ever wondered why the student dorms are placed so far from the main buildings, it was because of the student uprisings in the '60s. The uprisings were pretty frightening on the south campus and I suspect the admin. didn't want a repeat of that with direct transportation from the city to the north campus. Similarly, they didn't want there to be large places for the students to congregate inside the dorms, so they have really narrow hallways. (Though I really don't know WHAT the inspiration behind the Lego-land archetechure was). I was told there was a newspaper article in the Buffalo Snooze which said those apts. are rented free of charge to students from foreign countries. That'd really torque some of my buddies. Right now, the apts rent for roughly $500 a person for a two-bedroom apt. I pay less than half that for mine in the Cheektowaga area.

[jude24]

Shoot... the spell checker removes HTML tags...

[jude24]

Actually, that would suprise me. Usually the universities like the foreign students because they can (and do) charge them full-price.

[luckystarmom]

Fremont, Ca is on the safest list, but it is less than 30 miles from Oakland which is on the most dangerous list.

My hubby works in Fremont, and I'm surprised it's on the safe list.

[luckystarmom]

Fremont, Ca is on the safest list, but it is less than 30 miles from Oakland which is on the most dangerous list.

My hubby works in Fremont, and I'm surprised it's on the safe list.

[general_re]

Well, yeah, but this is UB we're talking about. The administration is not necessarily known for being the sharpest set of tools in the shed ;)

[jude24]

Interesting thing is... Amherst was the site of a murder 5 years ago... the Slepian assassination. I'm suprised that doesn't alter the statistics a little.

[LibertarianLiz]

The 25 most dangerous cities listed all have one thing in common ... that's right, they all have a MLK Boulevard, Drive or street ... guaranteed.

Well, congrats. It took til post #33, but someone finally touched (barely) upon the issue of higher than national average number of "minorities" in the "most dangerous" column.

[kitkat]

***(Though I really don't know WHAT the inspiration behind the Lego-land archetechure was)***

LOL! A blight on the landscape! I'm always glad when the trees are in bloom and hide the vision of the student dorms for miles around.

[general_re]

Oh, yes, I remember that very well - it was a little bit of a shock when that all happened. You know where Sweet Home Road and Maple Road intersect, right? Where the plaza with the Taco Bell and the Office Max are? Anyway, right across Maple Road from the Office Max is a little strip mall, set back from the road a bit, right next to the Noco station - Slepian used to have an office in that little strip mall.

Now, I lived up at the other end of Sweet Home for a long time, and I used to drive past that little strip mall, pretty much on a daily basis. And after Slepian got shot, I always used to wonder if I had ever driven right past James Kopp, staking out Slepian from one of the parking lots nearby or something, and not even known about it at the time...

[kidd]

To report on the two cities in my area:

#21 safest (Stamford, CT) - GOP island in a vast sea of liberalism.

#20 most dangerous (Springfield, MA) - extremely liberal. Last mayoral election the GOP didn't even bother to run a candidate because its a waste of money.

[tracer]

Questions of the day for inquiring minds:

1. How many of the "safest" cities have draconian gun laws?

2. How many of the "most dangerous" have shall-issue laws for CCW "permits?"

3. Which cities are in the "Red Zone" and which are in the "Blue Zone?"

4. Why are the correct answers to the above questions as they are?

[j_tull]

I'd like to see this list posted with some demographic data for each city. I have my suspicions.

[Maelstrom]

Maybe it's just where my Mother-in-law lives just off Saratoga and Harlem.

[Maelstrom]

LOL!

You gotta admit though, the people who cross that line live in Amherst and almost nobody crosses with the intention of committing a crime.

[Consort]