For second year in a row Nevada ranked most dangerous state! (Las Vegas: crime rates, homes) - (NV) - City-Data Forum

RedWingsFan · 06-07-2007, 04:51 AM

Yup, here's the ranking list, Nevada was ranked the most dangerous state in the country for the second year in a row:

Most Dangerous/Safest State Award 2007

garth · 06-07-2007, 08:02 AM

Interesting . . . but what does this have to do with anything? It's painting the entire state with a very broad brush. There will be big differences between different regions of the state and the numbers will be artificially skewed due to population weighting.

Nevada as a whole is interesting because its population is highly concentrated in one metropolitan area, which is often further from other populated Nevada towns than it is from populated regions in adjacent states. Just because crime may be high in that one highly populated southern metropolitan region doesn't mean it's high in other northern towns and cities that have little in common with their southern neighbor, both in culture and accessibility.

It's kinda' like saying that all of one race are bad because a group of them formed a criminal steet gang. Just replace the concept of "race" with the concept of the entire State of Nevada. You end up with a statement like, Nevada is bad because crime is high in one large metropolitan area. It doesn't make sense. It just a falacious arguement because it's too broad in many ways. It's not only broad in terms of the State, it's also too broad in terms of the one metropolitan area.

I hope that makes it clear . . .

RedWingsFan · 06-07-2007, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garth

Interesting . . . but what does this have to do with anything? .

Well, you could contact Morgan Quinto and ask them personally since it's their ranking list. Or you can contact every media outlet across the country that ends up reporting this news over the next couple of weeks (because it will be on television news, newspapers, etc.). You can contact them and ask them why they are reporting it after you contact the company that compiled the rankings and ask them what it has to do with anything.

garth · 06-07-2007, 08:50 AM

. . . or I could just point out the fault with the study. I also think that it's notable that you appear to have found no fault with the other discussed points. Have a nice day.

olecapt · 06-07-2007, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garth

Interesting . . . but what does this have to do with anything? It's painting the entire state with a very broad brush. There will be big differences between different regions of the state and the numbers will be artificially skewed due to population weighting.

Nevada as a whole is interesting because its population is highly concentrated in one metropolitan area, which is often further from other populated Nevada towns than it is from populated regions in adjacent states. Just because crime may be high in that one highly populated southern metropolitan region doesn't mean it's high in other northern towns and cities that have little in common with their southern neighbor, both in culture and accessibility.

It's kinda' like saying that all of one race are bad because a group of them formed a criminal steet gang. Just replace the concept of "race" with the concept of the entire State of Nevada. You end up with a statement like, Nevada is bad because crime is high in one large metropolitan area. It doesn't make sense. It just a falacious arguement because it's too broad in many ways. It's not only broad in terms of the State, it's also too broad in terms of the one metropolitan area.

I hope that makes it clear . . .

You are on to part of it. Basically Nevada is the third most urban area in the US...and what you see is that urban areas have higher crime rates than suburban and rural areas. But we have very small non-urban population. The other reason is that MQ adds auto theft to the violent crime numbers and LV is the champion at the moment in auto theft. There is however no particular reason that auto theft has become a violent crime except MQ need to differentiate itself from the federal crime statistics.

In truth both LV and Reno Sparks are middle of the pack on crime when compared to similar cities. Henderson is very good and NLV slightly worse than Vegas.

RWF knows all this but publishes this BS as part of her ongoing knock Nevada and Las Vegas campaign.

RedWingsFan · 06-07-2007, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olecapt

RWF knows all this but publishes this BS as part of her ongoing knock Nevada and Las Vegas campaign.

Spin it any way you want to. But if you go back to the original post of mine all I did was report the rankings/news. There was no BS in it, just the facts. You obviously don't agree with them and therefore want to say that it's me and that I have a vendetta against the whole state of Nevada.

I reported their findings of what the most dangerous state is. So maybe you don't like that it happens to be the one you live in. Call them up and complain to them, it won't do any good to complain to me about it.

So okay, now you act as if I have control over the rankings that Morgan Quinto puts out. Keep 'em coming, they are getting better everyday.

norm · 06-07-2007, 09:21 AM

And yet NV doesn't have one city among the ones with the highest crime rate.

City Crime rate: violent incidents per 100,000

St. Louis, MO 2,405.5
Detroit, MI 2,357.6
Flint, MI 2,260.2
Camden, NJ 2,096.7
Memphis, TN 1,860.0
Miami Gardens, FL 1,854.3
Orlando, FL 1,807.5
Compton, CA 1,786.9
Springfield, MA 1,774.2
Little Rock, AR 1,771.8
Trenton, NJ 1,770.6
Baltimore, MD 1,754.5
North Charleston, SC 1,724.5
Atlanta, GA 1,674.8
Nashville, TN 1,611.0
Miami, FL 1,579.7
St. Petersburg, FL 1,545.7
Pompano Beach, FL 1,520.7
Stockton, CA 1,491.4
Birmingham, AL 1,470.3
Philadelphia, PA 1,467.1
Kansas City, MO 1,459.2
Minneapolis, MN 1,454.2
Tampa, FL 1,430.5
Oakland, CA 1,420.8

garth · 06-07-2007, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by norm

And yet NV doesn't have one city among the ones with the highest crime rate.

Ah heck, let's go one step further and take the entire top 100 list of the least safe cities from the City-Data website. For towns with population in excess of 5000, which will include places as large as Las Vegas, medium sized places like Reno, and smaller areas like Carson City. There's not even one Nevada town or city listed.

Here's the link to the list and a cut and paste of it:

http://www.city-data.com/top27.html

Top 100 Least-Safe Cities (Highest City-data.com crime index) (pop. 5000+)

Note: resort cities could have overstated rankings because of additional seasonal visitors not taken into account.

In spite of all this information, the FBI, on whose numbers all of these ranking lists are based, cautions the following: "Until data users examine all the variables that affect crime in a town, city, county, state, region, or college or university, they can make no meaningful comparisons." It was written in the article that there are many factors that can skew the numbers and make comparisons impossible or inaccurate.

Here's the link to the entire FBI page where they document that valid city comparions cannot be made without taking into account many factors: The Subject Matter Expert's Page (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/about/variables_affecting_crime.html - broken link). Simply stated, such lists as the one I have provided, and definately including the one given by RWF, are meaningless at best and possibly completely inaccurate.

So, where does that leave us? I can only speak for myself, but I have seen no incidence of crime, felt no fear of crime, nor seen the results of criminal activity that would make me second guess my decision to settle in my little portion of Nevada, Douglas County. The many factors that brought me here haven't changed, including the health of the community, the integrity of the governing bodies, the quality of life in the neighborhoods, and the proximity to regional entertainment and recreation.

So, excuse me now while I go out to walk the dog and say "hi" to my neighbors. I haven't done it since late last night when I walked them, unmolested by man or beast, around 11:00 pm under the crisp starlit sky. It sure is nice to be here . . . in the State of Nevada.

Tressa · 06-07-2007, 11:02 AM

Just out of curosity was there a purpose for this post, is RWF from Nevada? Just trying to figure out the reasoning for the posting, possibly just trying to start a conversation?

scirocco22 · 06-07-2007, 11:13 AM

Sometimes referred to as trolling, Tressa. Mission accomplished.