Friday, March 23, 2007
Danger Will Robinson!
"Once again, Nevada has a ranking and reputation Metro isn't too proud of: The most dangerous state in the country. That's according to a new survey. It's the fourth year in a row we've come out on top but officers aren't willing to accept the bad rap so quickly.
...
The report's publisher admits these rankings are controversial, but argues rates are what they are. For example, the survey pits Nevada's 8.56 murders for every 100,000 people against the national average which 5.6." - KVBC
Do we get some kind of plaque for this? Granted I'm a relative newbie to Nevada - we've been in Reno just shy of two years, before that Molliwogg and I lived in Las Vegas for a couple months sometime in the 90's - but I've seen less crime here than I did in Portland.
Metro's Sergeant John Loretto says the survey is misleading. "Not all incidents come from the Las Vegas Valley."
Sorry bud, but you're going to have eat this one. I did a little research - not a lot, mind you, just a little - and quickly found some statistics.
According to Morgan Quitino Press, the national average for murder in 2004 was 5.5 murders per 100,000 people. In that report, Las Vegas averaged 10.6 and North Las Vegas, 9.3 - nearly double the national average. In comparison, Reno averaged a lowly 4.5 - lower than Portland at 5.3, but higher than Seattle at 4.2.
Dig the top four on the list: 1) Camden, NJ - 60.8 2) New Orleans, LA - 56.0 3) Gary, IN - 53.7 4) Richmond, VA - 47.3 (Morgan Quitino Press report - PDF)
I realize population affects these figures and 4.5 is probably high for a smaller city, but give me Reno over Gary or Camden any day of the week.
Here's the funny thing - I'm switching over to Infoplease's statistics for Most Dangerous States and Most Livable States for these figures - Nevada is the most dangerous state, Oregon ranks #27, while New Jersey (apparently home to the murder capital of the U.S. - take that Santa Cruz!) ranks #32. In the "most livable" charts, New Jersey ranks #5, while the most dangerous state in the union ranks #24, above Oregon which scores a relatively low #33.
I never took statistics in high school or college, but it would seem to me that the designation of "Most Dangerous State" would affect your status on the "Most Livable State" charts. On that same note, harboring the city with the highest murder rate in the United States would appear to exclude you from ranking in the top five of most livable states.
Sticks and stones may break my bones (except in Camden!), but statistics will always confuse me.
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