EVERETT – You are safer on the streets of Los Angeles and New York City than walking along Hewitt Avenue or Evergreen Way, according to a study released Monday nationwide.
Everett landed in the bottom quarter of the list of safest cities, ranking 283rd out of 371.
“I don’t think so,” Everett Police Chief Jim Scharf said. “I don’t think the majority of our citizens think so. I’d be more than happy to invite these people to spend a week here and a week in Los Angeles and then tell me Everett is more dangerous.”
According to the list, Everett is more crime-ridden than Seattle; Spokane; Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; and New York City. The annual crime comparison is compiled by Morgan Quitno Press, a private research and publishing company located in Kansas.
The list hit the national news wires Monday with newspapers and television stations in cities across the U.S. reporting on the results of the study. St. Louis, Mo., was ranked the most dangerous while Brick, N.J., was named the safest.
The study was based on 2005 crime statistics released by the FBI in June, according to the company’s president Scott Morgan. The research company looked at six crime types: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and car theft. In each crime category, a city was compared with the national average.
Violent crimes – such as murder and assault – carried the same weight as burglary and vehicle thefts.
The study found that Everett was above the national average for every type of crime except murder, Morgan said.
Property crime was included in the study because polling shows more people are concerned about burglary and motor vehicle theft than any other crime, Morgan said.
“Just because you’re not there, doesn’t make the crime less dangerous,” Morgan said.
Everett’s Mayor Ray Stephanson hadn’t looked at the study Monday, but said he is skeptical that Everett is more dangerous than Seattle and Los Angeles.
“I think the study is misleading and I think there are degrees of crimes,” he said. “Clearly crimes against persons and assaults are more significant than car theft, for example.”
Although the researchers put Everett and all other cities compared on a single list, people here shouldn’t look to New York or Los Angeles for comparison, Morgan said.
They also shouldn’t succumb to stereotypes.
“New York is not a dangerous city,” he said. “A lot of that is based on TV conceptions. I don’t think L.A. is (relevant) either. Why not look at a city that is more comparable?”
But Morgan’s list treats all communities the same.
The FBI warns against using its crime statistics to compare communities. Local police know that police departments report crime differently and the numbers can be misleading.
“How crime is reported isn’t always uniform,” Everett police Sgt. Boyd Bryant said. “I don’t think everyone has the same reporting guidelines.”
If Everett officials don’t care for the study, “they should just ignore it,” Morgan said. He said he believes that the study is a good opportunity for cities to talk about crime.
“Everett has crime. It’s why we have a police department,” Scharf said. “I have to disagree with the list. I don’t want to call it irresponsible. I just don’t think all the facts were made available.”
Herald writer David Chircop contributed to this report.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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