Peter Schorsch
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum received some possibly unsettling news this week.
The Democratic candidate for governor, who has led Tallahassee since November 2014, learned that his city is the most dangerous in Florida.
That dubious distinction came by way of a survey from the blog 24/7 Wall St, which reviewed data from the FBI Uniform Crime Report to identify the dangerous metropolitan area in each state.
Tallahassee had 767 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents in 2015, far more than in any of Florida’s 21 other metro areas observed by the FBI. It was also well above the state’s violent crime rate of 461.9 per 100,000 (Florida was the 11th highest in the nation). Tallahassee also had a poverty rate of 22.4 percent and an unemployment rate: 4.4 percent.
Gillum’s camp offered a counter-narrative.
“Here’s the real story of Tallahassee: it was ranked one of the best cities in Florida to start a business and it continues to be a great place to live, work and raise a family,” said Geoff Burgan, the Gillum campaign’s communication’s director. “People expect that communities will have challenges – what they care about is how you address them, and the Mayor’s taken public safety very seriously. He’s worked to put more police on the street and increase community policing practices. He’s also addressed the social side of public safety – from expanding the Summer Jobs program to offer kids an opportunity, to using restorative and alternative justice programs to better address systemic issues.”
After two decades of steady decline, violent crime in the U.S. seems to be on the rise. There were an estimated 15,696 murders nationwide in 2015, a 10 percent increase over the previous year, part of a 3.9 percent overall increase in violent crime.
On the bright side, however, is that U.S. crime still remains at historic lows; violent crime is down over 50 percent since 1991.
Since crime is not uniform across the country, violent crime is far more common in some cities than others – something a gubernatorial candidate certainly does not want on the campaign trail, especially when that most dangerous city is his hometown.
To identify the most dangerous city in each state, Wall Street 24/7 examined: “The total number and rates of murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, which are included in the violent crime rate, as well as burglaries, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson — all classified as property crime — also came from the FBI’s report.”
The website also considered corresponding data from 2011 through 2015. Unemployment rates for March 2017 were taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Numbers on poverty rates, the percentage of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree, and the percentage of adults with at least a high school diploma were from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) for 2015.
9 comments
Reid Friedson, PhD
May 30, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Tallahassee also leads the nation in political and economic inequality.
See: People of the State of Florida v. Rick Scott, et al.
Tally Lover
June 3, 2017 at 12:35 am
Tallahassee is a great place and Since Mayor Gilliam has served as Mayor we’ve seen more Families enjoying the cities including utilizing Cascade Park! I love Tallahassee and I encourage anyone to move here and join my family in this great city.. Great Job Mayor Gillam .
Bill Sutherson
May 31, 2017 at 1:32 pm
This isn’t even being reported on the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper/online…
FSU Alum
June 1, 2017 at 12:07 pm
I don’t really think this is an issue specific to Tallahassee though… There has been an increase in crime in a lot of cities in the United States, not just Tallahassee. Plus, the Chief of Police should be the one in question here, not the Mayor. Gillum has done a lot to help fight crime, the Leon County Police department should up their game, if anything.
Pat
June 2, 2017 at 3:22 am
I agree.
Tally Lover
June 3, 2017 at 12:37 am
I agree ! Just politics at its best!
realist
June 2, 2017 at 11:55 pm
He has asked for more money to hire additional officers but nhas been rtefused beacuse Gillam belives arresting African Americans is at its core a racist act – hard to fix a crime problem with the lowest ratio of police to population in the state,
S
June 3, 2017 at 4:07 am
RE: FSU Alum.
Agree, with his “Operation Safe Neighborhoods” program, as Mayor of Tallahassee. Any “major” city has at least some [local] crime. Also are specific residential areas. Some neighborhoods have a “Neighborhood Watch” program enlisted with signs posted throughout the neighborhood. And encouraging of home security systems. As well as St. Pete’s “Park, Walk and Talk” program. These programs could, and should, expand in more cities around the state, as well as being in the community just as much as the community is theirs. More like looking like a community. God bless this country and this state.
Native
June 8, 2017 at 3:53 am
When did Tallahassee become Metropolitan?
Comments are closed.