Although the CQ Press city crime rankings do qualify themselves as being controversial, their very existence has far reaching results for the affected communities. This time around the 2008 city crime rankings names New Orleans, LA, as the number one den of iniquity.
Top 10 CQ Press City Crime Rankings 2008
The CQ Press city crime rankings 2008 – from worst to number 10 – are as follows: New Orleans, LA; Camden, NJ; Detroit, MI; St. Louis, MO; Oakland, CA; Flint, MI; Gary, IN; Birmingham, AL; Richmond, CA, and North Charleston, SC.
Being a Californian, I cannot help but wonder how the rest of the state did. Compton, CA came in at number 17, San Bernardino at number 36, Stockton at number 45, Sacramento at 51, Vallejo at 67, Salinas at 76, Inglewood at 95, San Francisco at 102, Antioch at 104, Pomona at 108, Rialto at 112, Hawthorne at 114, San Leandro at 117, Lancaster at 118, Hayward at 125, Berkeley at 132, Modesto at 140, Merced at 142, Fresno at 144, and Carson at 150.
Still wondering where Los Angeles ranks, we read on: Victorville ranks at 152, El Cajon at 157; Los Angeles (where we have open gang fights on the streets, shootouts at schools and convenience stores, and gangs charge protection money to street vendors) ranks at number 158.
Denver residents (in deference to Associated Content’s home state) will be glad to know that Denver, CO came in at number 129.
City Crime Rankings by CQ Press Challenged By Mayors
Mayors of the high crime cities are not happy. Law Enforcement News suggests that the U.S. Conference of Mayors issued harsh criticism to CQ Press over its rankings which the elected officials term “misleading and a disservice to the public.”
Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy in particular was rather rankled at the results and finds that they are little more than FBI raw data taken out of context. It most likely did not help that Rochester, NY ranked number 32 on the list of most crime ridden cities.
CQ Press Defends City Crime Rankings as Being Valuable Research Tool
In spite of the entire hullabaloo, CNN quotes CQ Press as standing unabashedly behind their facts and figures. Rather than worrying about the reputations of cities and the politicians associated with them, CQ Press claims to offer a service to consumers comparing and contrasting communities.
CQ Press Makes Valid Points
You may – or may not – recall my 11-2007 article entitled Compton, California, Has Dubious Record of Fourth Most Dangerous City in America. Anyone living in sunny So Cal knows that Compton is a rough patch to be traversed cautiously, yet its change in rankings – Compton slipped from number four to number 17 – is heartening and shows that the revitalization attempts by the City Council and individual business owners are paying huge dividends.
Perhaps the U.S. Conference of Mayors would be better served to check out what caused their cities to make it into the high crime categories, and then learn from cities that decreased their crime rates, such as Compton, what worked for them.
Of course, blasting CQ Press and its city crime rankings is a lot easier.
Sources: http://www.cqpress.com/pages/citycrime2008; http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=44288; http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/24/crime.stats/; http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/453824/compton_california_has_dubious_record.html
