Tennessee: Ranked 8th Highest in Crime (Memphis, Knoxville: crime rate, home, salary)

[puckaroo]

I have seen where Tennessee is ranked #8 among states for crime and I have to ask why that is. Perhaps it has something to do with the influx of people into the state in recent years with law enforcement just not keeping up with the growing population and increasing problems. Ofcourse, somebody has to be the one with the higher crime ranking, but why is it Tennessee? Though Tennessee is rather high on this list, we know that Tennessee is not alone with this problem. Crime is a growing concern nation-wide. Is it that we're seeing a general trend of complacency with regard to crime in this country? We know there is a war in Iraq, but someone in authority has to recognize that we have a war to fight right here at home.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by puckaroo

I have seen where Tennessee is ranked #8 among states for crime and I have to ask why that is. Perhaps it has something to do with the influx of people into the state in recent years with law enforcement just not keeping up with the growing population and increasing problems. Ofcourse, somebody has to be the one with the higher crime ranking, but why is it Tennessee? Though Tennessee is rather high on this list, we know that Tennessee is not alone with this problem. Crime is a growing concern nation-wide. Is it that we're seeing a general trend of complacency with regard to crime in this country? We know there is a war in Iraq, but someone in authority has to recognize that we have a war to fight right here at home.

I think it's ridiculous to rank an entire state for crime; it's over 500 miles from one end of the state to the other. 1/6 of Tennessee's population is in Shelby County (Memphis) which has a heck of a lot more crime than the rest of the state. If Shelby County were taken out of the equation, I'd bet my month's salary that the state's crime ranking would drop substantially.

[puckaroo]

JMT,
I hope you're right about the primary cause for Tennessee's #8 crime ranking being the Memphis area because we have our sites set on moving to the Knoxville area.





[original post]
I think it's ridiculous to rank an entire state for crime; it's over 500 miles from one end of the state to the other. 1/6 of Tennessee's population is in Shelby County (Memphis) which has a heck of a lot more crime than the rest of the state. If Shelby County were taken out of the equation, I'd bet my month's salary that the state's crime ranking would drop substantially

[LestrMoos]

Here is a story from WATE about the crime rating:

"KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- In a crime report just issued by a research firm, Knoxville ranks as the 75th most dangerous city in America.

St. Louis was listed as the most dangerous, of 371 municipalities. The city's violent crime rate surged 20 percent between 2004 and 2005.

Other top dangerous cities are Detroit, Flint, Michigan and Compton, California.

That's according to Morgan Quitno Press, which ranks the nation's safest and most dangerous cities every year, using FBI crime stats.

Knoxville resident Ray Tennant, who was walking through Market Square Monday night, said he was shocked that the study ranked New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco safer than Knoxville.

"We feel very safe here in Knoxville. It's a great downtown and you can easily walk around so yeah, we're a bit surprised at that," Tennant said.

Knoxville police are taking a strong stance against the report. Spokesman Darrell DeBusk told 6 News it uses an unfair comparison of crime data.

KPD uses an incident-based crime reporting system. For example, if someone breaks into a house, stabs someone in the house, vandalizes it, and steals the person's car, Knoxville police report it as four separate crimes.

DeBusk said that's much different than the system the FBI and the research firm use.

"Under the UCR number that the FBI uses, the most serious offense is the one that is going to be counted. So it makes it look like we've had four crimes compared to one in other jurisdictions outside of Tennessee."

Mayor Bill Haslam's office agreed, saying the report is not an accurate reflection of the city's crime rate.

For other Tennessee cities in the report, Memphis ranks as the 13th most dangerous city and Nashville is 39th. "

[MomsTn]

anddddddddddd, where did they rate Minneapolis in that poll?

Originally Posted by LestrMoos

Here is a story from WATE about the crime rating:

"KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- In a crime report just issued by a research firm, Knoxville ranks as the 75th most dangerous city in America.

St. Louis was listed as the most dangerous, of 371 municipalities. The city's violent crime rate surged 20 percent between 2004 and 2005.

Other top dangerous cities are Detroit, Flint, Michigan and Compton, California.

That's according to Morgan Quitno Press, which ranks the nation's safest and most dangerous cities every year, using FBI crime stats.

Knoxville resident Ray Tennant, who was walking through Market Square Monday night, said he was shocked that the study ranked New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco safer than Knoxville.

"We feel very safe here in Knoxville. It's a great downtown and you can easily walk around so yeah, we're a bit surprised at that," Tennant said.

Knoxville police are taking a strong stance against the report. Spokesman Darrell DeBusk told 6 News it uses an unfair comparison of crime data.

KPD uses an incident-based crime reporting system. For example, if someone breaks into a house, stabs someone in the house, vandalizes it, and steals the person's car, Knoxville police report it as four separate crimes.

DeBusk said that's much different than the system the FBI and the research firm use.

"Under the UCR number that the FBI uses, the most serious offense is the one that is going to be counted. So it makes it look like we've had four crimes compared to one in other jurisdictions outside of Tennessee."

Mayor Bill Haslam's office agreed, saying the report is not an accurate reflection of the city's crime rate.

For other Tennessee cities in the report, Memphis ranks as the 13th most dangerous city and Nashville is 39th. "

[ajones11]

I agree w/JMT on this one-- the state is too big and Memphis has to be playing into that statistic. I do not consider Knoxville a dangerous city at all-I agree w/ the resident who said you can safely walk around the downtown/market square area-without any fear for your safety.

[hilly7]

I know it must be the larger cities. I never lock my car, usually leave the keys in it and half the time the kids don't shut the doors at home let alone lock them.