LA_Mustang wrote:Doesn't Dallas have a much higher crime rate and murder rate than Houston?
By ALAN MELSON / DallasNews.com
In a true tale of two cities, Dallas and Fort Worth have ended up on opposite sides in a book listing the safest and most dangerous places to live in the U.S.
The new edition of City Crime Rankings ranks Dallas as the fifth-most dangerous city in the country with a population over 500,000. In the same population category, Fort Worth ranked as the ninth-safest city.
Dallas Mayor Laura Miller was unavailable for comment.
Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief attributed his city's positive ranking to an increased police presence, community policing and a half-cent sales tax increase last year that is providing more funds for crime prevention.
"Being in the top ten is great, but we are still not satisfied," Moncrief said. "One of the City of Fort Worth’s strategic goals is to become the nation’s safest major city."
On the overall list of most dangerous cities, Dallas ranks 22nd. Camden, N.J., topped the list, followed by Detroit and St. Louis.
Round Rock, Texas, an Austin suburb, made the overall safest list at No. 8.
Other Texas cities on the lists include Houston, which ranks as the ninth-most dangerous metropolis with a population over 500,000. On the list of safest cities over 500,000, El Paso is second, Austin is fifth and San Antonio came in at eighth.
In the category of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), the Wichita Falls area came in at 21st on the most dangerous list.
City Crime Rankings has been released each year since 1994 by Morgan Quitno Press, a Kansas-based publishing and research firm. Company officials said the rankings are based on FBI 2004 statistics in six crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.
