Friday, June 26, 2009

Memphis Neighborhoods Among Most Dangerous

Memphis made a top 25 list, but unfortunately, it wasn’t one we wanted to be on.

We had two neighborhoods in the 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the U.S. - #11 (Bellevue Boulevard/Lamar Avenue) and # 7 (Warford St/Mount Olive Road.

The rankings were compiled by WalletPop based on the exclusive neighborhood crime information from NeighborhoodScout.com. NeighborhoodScout.com said it collects data from all 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S.

Based on that data, the two Memphis neighborhoods cracked the top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods. Dallas and Kansas City also had two neighborhoods on the list and Chicago had four.

The most dangerous neighborhood, according to the listing, is in a Cincinnati where people have a 1 in 4 chance of being a victim of crime.

In Memphis, the Bellevue area has a 1 in 8 chance of becoming a victim of crime, and in the Warford area, it is 1 in 7.

That compares with a 1 in 64 chance in our entire city. According to NeighborhoodScout, Memphis is safer than 2% of the cities in the U.S. (with more than 25,000 population). In the city rankings, Memphis is #41 behind cities like Atlanta, Las Vegas, Orlando, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Tampa and Salt Lake City with 218 crimes per square mile, compared to 323 per square mile in Atlanta. The U.S. average is 49.6.

Nashville was not in the top 100 most dangerous cities.

Closer to home, West Memphis is the 74th most dangerous city in the U.S. where there is a 1 in 57 chance of becoming a crime victim.

While there has been some marginally good news on the crime-fighting front lately, it’s unlikely to get significantly better any time soon. The unemployment rate for Shelby County is 9.6%, but in Memphis, 1 out of 3 people in the labor force is either unemployed or not looking for work any longer.

5 comments:

Tom Guleff said...

At the intersection of Bellevue Boulevard/Lamar Avenue there's an onramp to I240 about 400 yards away. These thugs go on a crime spree than take off to anywhere. Maybe with a new mayor we can chip away at crime.

Zippy the giver said...

I wanted to say "DUH!", but you said, "According to NeighborhoodScout, Memphis is safer than 2% of the cities in the U.S. (with more than 25,000 population)."
and it made me laugh the way you stated it. Then you did the math for every city but Memphis. That's kinda like being nice to yourself when owning up to something half way.
There is no personal capital in owning up less than 100% and no capital in minimizing in any way.
As much as it is good to see more truthful reporting, I wonder if someone could dig into who is subverting the stats and why.

Smart City Consulting said...

Zippy:

That's why we gave you the links.

Zippy the giver said...

Thanks, I already have links to this stuff.
Their stats and reporting are only as good as the police reporting.
A we have seen in Memphis, especially in North precinct, Memphis' biggest precinct, reporting and making reports was not a priority for many years, making the neighborhoods in that precinct look MUCH better than reality. Stat based deployment wouldn't have affected subverted stats.
I could make a case that subverting reporting has caused irreparable damage to Memphis and that a lawsuit should DEFINITELY be started against all involved. Especially against the commander in charge who was moved, (God help those in the new precinct) and now there are reports.
It would be in the billions of dollars.
Anytime someone argues that there shouldn't be a lawsuit for some politically correct reason when colossal damage has been done directed by an individual, that's a good argument that it SHOULD be done!
I'd vote MPD as most improved in the last two years. Still some distance to go, but, it has become a directed department.
I wonder if Godwin runs and wins for mayor, could he get all the money in to complete the job and save the city.
Without sentencing and rehabilitation, there is NO HOPE that it will last past the first wave of criminals being released.

MARK MY WORDS!

Anonymous said...

Its very interesting blog
thanks


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