Springfield, with 16 homicides last year, is considered more dangerous than Washington, D.C, and Philadelphia, which respectively had 123 and 306 homicides.
EMTs tend to the victim on a May 8 shooting at Dwight and Allendale Streets in the city's North End. The man was shot in the legSPRINGFIELD – An online publication ranks Springfield as the 12th most dangerous U.S. city, putting it in the same company as metropolitan areas such as Detroit, St. Louis, Mo., and Philadelphia.
The ranking of the top 25 most dangerous cities was compiled by Business Insider using numbers from the FBI’s most recent Uniform Crime Report data based on 2010 crime statistics.
Springfield, with a population of 154,314, warrants inclusion on the list because it has a violent crime rate of 1,354 incidents for every 100,000 people.
That is a higher per-capita rate than Boston at 903, Lowell at 1,155, and Hartford, Conn., 1,292.
It is also enough to rank Springfield more dangerous than Washington, D.C., which ranked as 15th, and Philadelphia, which came in 17th. The cities respectively tallied 123 and 306 homicides in 2010.
Springfield had 16 homicides in 2010 and has eight so far this year.
While Springfield ranks as the second most-dangerous New England city, Hartford, and Lowell ranked 14 and 18, respectively, and Boston, Worcester and Providence, did not make the list.
The title of most dangerous city in New England falls to New Haven, Conn., with a violent-crime rate of 1,584 incidents for every 100,000 people, which puts it in fourth place nationally, behind only St. Louis, Mo., and the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said he was not going to try to argue against the ranking or spin the numbers, even though he said he took issue with how the report was compiled.
In particular, he noted that the ranking, while using FBI crime data, was not compiled by the FBI.
The FBI does not rank use the data to rank cities. As it notes in the introduction to the report, it cautions against anyone "drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities" and such comparisons "lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions."
Sarno said, “You’re not going to get any spin from me. The city is facing a challenge and we are continuing to conquer it.”
The ranking was criticized by the police, neighborhood council members and anti-violence advocates who said to rank Springfield with much larger cities that have several times as many homicides is a comparison that is either misleading or preposterous.
Sgt. John Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet said, “You can’t go comparing city to city.”
To put Springfield on the same list with, for example, Detroit, which has a population of just under 900,000, and had 310 homicides and 11,000 assaults, is just misleading, he said.
“People will look at this and say Springfield is out of control when in fact it’s not out of control,” he said.
The police so far this year have made 2,100 arrests, he said. “We are doing our part.”
Walter Kroll, president of the McKnight Neighborhood Council and the McKnight Neighborhood Crime Watch, said his cousin who works in Detroit would laugh if Kroll ever tried to compare crime in the two cities.
“One thing I learned in college is you can make numbers say what you want them to say,” he said.
DeJuan Brown of the anti-youth violence organization AWAKE said he could not put much credence to the ranking. He said it is undeniable there are some bad characters in the city who cause enough harm to ruin the city’s reputation.
But, he said, “The city is not that dangerous.”
However, Antonette Pepe who is running against Sarno for mayor, seized upon the ranking to charge the Sarno approach is not working.
“We must look to new ways to stop crime in the city,” she said. “We need a mayor that
is a leader that is not going to settle for excuses and this is inexcusable.”
Most Dangerous Top 25
Sarno said that numbers or no numbers, it is clear Springfield has a problem with crime and violence, and he reiterated the public safety has and continues to be his main priority.
Springfield, like many urban areas, is dealing with the fallout from high amounts of poverty, youth violence and drugs.
“We have many great areas in this city, but we do have many hot spots,” he said.
The Police Department has new deployments in high-crime areas, 30 officers have been added this week, and the department is working with state and federal law enforcement agencies to target gangs and drugs, he said.
Jay Griffin, of the Old Hill Neighborhood Council, said he did not know if one can compare violence in Springfield with Detroit or Philadelphia.
But, he said, “the conditions (in Springfield) are not unlike Detroit or Philadelphia.”
High unemployment, particularly among minorities, has many families feeling stress.
“Those are conditions that exist that put people in a position of feeling helpless and hopeless,” he said. “And that is a bad combination.”
Griffin said if the city is going to combat crime, it needs to do more to bring together different and diverse communities that make up Springfield.
“Sometimes when we report (about crime), we isolate, we make it us and them,” he said. “There is no us and them. There’s just us.”