Statistics are only as reliable as their sources, and only as useful as their interpretation... or misinterpretation as the case may be. One of my favorite book titles while I was still working was
Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics...
The main point to all my rambling on this thread is, 'crime statistics' have limited utility (more so in some places than others) in predicting how safe a given area actually is. Most university campuses, for example, drastically under-report crime numbers where their students are victims simply because the crimes often happen on the fringes of campus and not actually on campus.
Be alert everywhere...
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http://nation.foxnews.com/chicago/2...ors-war-zone-federal-data-shows#ixzz1wZERGGvQ
May 31, 2012
Chicago's Murder Rate Mirrors War Zone, Federal Data Shows
With NATO summit over, city’s crime back on front-burner
By NOLAN PETERSON
Medill News Service
If Chicago were a war zone, it would be a deadlier one for Americans than Afghanistan.
In fact, according to the Department of Defense and FBI data, the number of Chicagoans murdered is two and a half times U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
With NATO in the rear-view mirror, area law enforcement officials and politicians will turn their attention away from unruly protestors back to the city's rising murder rate - up 54 percent from last year, according to police data.
Last week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new strategy to combat gang activity in crime hot spots to halt the killing. The strategy, called a "wraparound plan," focuses on improving neighborhood services after police descend on an area to target and remove gangs.
"Once we make arrests, and we eliminate a narcotics organization, we are committed to holding onto that turf, to that territory, to squeeze out the drug market and the violence," said Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy last week.
Homicides in Chicago have spiked this year, though overall crime is down. Chicago has had 169 murders in 2012, compared to 110 at the same date last year. Overall, the city's crime rate is down 11 percent from last year.
According to FBI and Department of Defense data, 5,056 people have been murdered in Chicago since 2001, compared with 1,976 total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan since 2001. Chicago's murder rate even outpaces total NATO coalition fatalities in Afghanistan since 2001 by a difference of more than 2,500 killed.
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