Worst
1. St. Louis
2. Detroit
3. Flint, Mich.
4. Compton, Calif. and
5. Camden, N.J.
BEST:
1. Brick, N.J.
2. Amherst, N.Y.
3. Mission Viejo, Calif.
4. Newton, Mass. and
5. Troy, Michigan.
Two citys where I live made to the worst and best list. funny thing is I live in the middle. Rochester hills is in the middle of Detroit and Troy.
St. Louis was the most dangerous, according to the list compiled by Morgan Quitno Press.
Individual crimes such as rape or burglary are measured separately, compared with national averages and then compiled to give a city its ranking. Crimes are weighted based on their danger to people.
Marion County experienced 121 homicides last year; the same number was recorded through Sunday this year. One more homicide, and 2006 will be the county's deadliest year since 1998, when 162 homicides were recorded.
St. Louis has long been in the upper tiers of the annual ranking of the nation's most dangerous cities. Violent crime surged nearly 20 percent there from 2004 to last year, when the rate of such crimes rose much faster in the Midwest than in the rest of the nation, according to FBI figures released in June.
St. Louis has spent millions of dollars on urban renewal even as the crime rate climbs.
The study looks at crime only within St. Louis city limits, with a population of about 330,000, said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quito Press, a private research and publishing firm. It doesn't take into account the suburbs in St. Louis County, which has 980,000 residents.
Critics say that the statistics cited are biased against larger or midsize cities and that the numbers are skewed because police departments are allowed to report crimes differently.
Source: Indy News and MSNBC.
