According to a recent WFSB story, Hartford is now ranked by the FBI as the fourth most dangerous city of its size in America. New Haven came in second, and Bridgeport sixth.
I went looking for the "new report" referenced in the story. First I found this list, posted in November 2013 on the website Law Street and "based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Report Statistics released September 16, 2013." Here is the 2012 FBI data it was based it. (In it, Hartford ranks 13th.) Then I found a CNN Money slideshow of the top ten dangerous American cities, published early this month. (Bridgeport is number nine; Hartford does not appear.) That index was compiled by CQ Press "using data reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Crime in the United States 2012," the same FBI data linked above. Business Insider used this same data to rank Hartford as a dangerous place to live last year, too, and the Hartford Courant nicely dismantled whole concept.
Wondering why everyone was stuck in 2012, I found CQ Press's 2014 City Crime Rankings. Hartford is not on it.
The phrase "FBI data" is a little misleading. All the federal crime-fighting agency does in this regard is compile reports provided to it by law enforcement agencies across the country. And, as a footnote to the CNN article points out, "the FBI no longer ranks cities based on their crime statistics because each city reports crimes differently and some crimes go unreported, causing the index to be an unreliable indicator of crime."
But even leaving aside the questionable nature of their numbers, I always roll my eyes at these lists. Not because crime does not concern me, but because I first became aware of "most dangerous" rankings while living in St. Louis, at the time number one on the list. Though no longer in first place, St. Louis has hovered in the top five "most dangerous" cities ever since I lived there, in the mid 2000's. It's is now, apparently, fifth – or third, depending on whose list you read.
And this is what St. Louis was like back then: a beautiful historic city, made up of multiple unique neighborhoods, certainly not what it had been in days past, but still vibrant. There were bad areas and good areas, and problems with segregation and crime, but there were also many people who cared deeply about where they lived, and started original small businesses, and worked to help those in need. There was culture and art and commerce and pride. There were lovely parks to explore and a wide river to stroll beside and something new happening every day. Sound familiar?
I've only spent a few days in St. Louis since I moved away, but from what I can tell all the good things I listed above have only increased. Not that you'd know it from all the stories about dangerous cities. As long as Hartford and St. Louis continue to find their way as they have been, I will continue to scoff at such fear-mongering lists.