(derekbaker)

We're Number 145! We're Number 145!

The annual rankings by Morgan Quitno Press of America's safest and most dangerous cities just came out, and New York City is ranked right near the middle (but in the upper half) at 145 ... out of 371 cities studied. Rankings came from a combination of murder rates, rape incidents, and auto thefts. Safest was Brick Township, in New Jersey. Least safe was St. Louis -- and formerly least-safe city Camden, NJ, finally moved down to 5th most dangerous.

When looking only at cities with populations over 500,000, however, New York City came in as fourth safest, behind San Jose, Honolulu, and El Paso. Detroit, Baltimore, Memphis, and Washington, D.C., were the least safe in this category.

My hometown, Tulsa, is listed as the 37th most dangerous city, putting it in the worst 10 percent, I guess. Even sleepy little Topeka, Kansas, ended up in the bottom half of the list, at 206th safest. Which is kind of surprising, if you've ever visited either of these towns. And it's kind of bizarre that, by leaving there and coming here 19 years ago, I ended up in the safest of the three cities.

No blue state arrogance here, though. Crystal meth seems to be the poison affecting crime rates in communities across the South and Midwest today, but when I moved to New York 19 years ago, crack cocaine was the big problem here. These things go in generational cycles across broad swaths of the country, and there are no quick fixes, regardless of what James Q. Wilson or the concealed-carry movement may think.

Here's the list.

Labels: issues

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