Lubbock ranks No. 6 on Forbes list of dangerous cities
Lubbock ranked as the sixth most dangerous city in the country, according to a Forbes Magazine list released this week.
Posted: October 5, 2011 - 4:10pm | Updated: October 6, 2011 - 12:25am
By Adam D. Young
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Lubbock ranked as the sixth most dangerous city in the country, according to a Forbes Magazine list released this week.
The list ranked metropolitan statistical areas in the country with populations greater than 200,000, using data from the 2010 FBI Uniform Crime Report, according to the article.
Lubbock made No. 6 with 808 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2010. Detroit and Memphis, Tenn., topped the list with 1,111 and 1,006 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, respectively.
The article based its findings on data gathered from the FBI in four categories of violent crimes: murder and non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; and aggravated assault.
Lubbock police Chief Roger Ellis said the numbers Forbes used appear accurate, but believes the data could be misleading because Lubbock’s department potentially provides the FBI with more information than other departments.
Ellis said his department opts to report all violent crimes officers respond to while some departments choose only to report those violent crimes that are taken to court with filed charges. He said the FBI does not have specific standards mandating how departments report their violent crimes.
“But we’ve always just reported the numbers as they come in,” he said. “If we take a report on a violent crime, we include it.”
Violent crimes
According to the FBI’s crime report, “The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program collects offenses that come to the attention of law enforcement for violent crime and property crime, as well as data regarding clearances of these offenses.”
Ellis said Lubbock’s relatively high number of aggravated assaults likely put the Hub City on the Forbes list.
http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-courts/2011-10-05/lubbock-ranks-no-6-forbes-list-dangerous-cities#.TpFkhnJvGIw