Richmond, VA now the 49th least safe city in America
The Richmond Police Department announced today that Richmond has improved its ranking of the least safe cities in the country, moving from #20 to #49 since 2006. 385 of the largest cities in America were part of the survey.
Crime overall in 2008 is down from previous years…
- Murder down 33 percent
- Rape down 11 percent
- Commercial robbery down 48 percent
- Individual robbery down 16 percent
- Aggravated assault down 8 percent
- Burglary down 3 percent
- Motor vehicle theft down 23 percent
Still, 49th out of 385 least safe cities isn’t where we want to be.
How about a link to the entire list?
The RPD didn’t have a link. Come on Internets, help me out here.
That’s what happens when you let the hoodlums kill off one another … thank goodness we have an inept police department.
So, gangs, keep up the good work! And, cops, steer clear … otherwise, if you happen to get lucky and somehow arrest one of these guys, it’s only going to cost us taxpayers ~ $150,000/yr to house and feed them.
http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/CityCrime2008_Rank.pdf
Awesome, thanks for the link.
Are you kidding me? We were 5th most dangerous in 2005 and everyone makes falling to 49th in three years sound like BAD news! I don’t think you can find another city that STILL has that many double digit drops in major crimes. Would 98th be better? Sure, but at least be a little optimistic that we are heading in the right direction and not the wrong one.
Don’t read it as bad news, but as a challenge to everyone to continue improving.
Richmond was 5th in 2003 (15th in 2005).
I’m used to seeing comments like John’s on the times-dispatch website under a Michael Paul Williams article, but when did such obtuseness arrive on WOTBN?
Educate yourself, John, and save your uninformed drivel for the O’Reilly Factor. I hear he likes “pithy” commentary like yours.
@John
On what do you base your “inept Police Department” comment?
Least safe? I like most most dangerous better.
Citizens forget how bad things used to be in Richmond before Mayor Wilder came into office.
The Mayor very quickly brought in Rodney Monroe to be the new Police Chief, in 2005.
Monroe introduced ‘communuty sector’ policing to Richmond and that measure, along with increasingly active participation by citizens in sharing information with the authorities, has led to Richmond’s tremendous decrease in crime.
Yes, we all want to do better, but one cannot overlook the extraordinary strides we have made under Mayor Wilder.
I am not as interested as LP in turning this post into a horn tooting session for Wilder. I do not credit Wilder for reduced crime. Assuming for a minute that the reduction in crime was due to Monroe’s administration of the department with the policy changes noted above and others, then he should get the credit for his labors as should the fine men and women of the RPD that implemented them. John’s earlier disparaging comments aside (comments like his are funny in movies but hardly the state I would encourage in the city in which I live and work).
Community participation is likewise a requisite ingredient in our current improvements and I personally do not see how Wilder improved that at all, rather the opposite with the abandonment of the Teams process and replacement of it with an ineffectual “Round Table” farce.
Further to the point on Monroe, not to discount the good that ultimately came of his time in Richmond, let’s not forget he also was responsible for a few stinker decisions such as fixed shifts that had department morale at rock bottom and the department hemorrhaging personnel. Thankfully he corrected this mistake before we totally bled out. Here’s wishing his successor the best in quickly getting a grip on the reigns at RPD and maintaining the downward trend in violence in Richmond.
I am not at all interested in Fiona’s negative diatribes, as they lack a factual basis.
She is, however, entitled to her longwinded opinions.
Geez Fiona,
Lighten up….I didn’t realize we had almost “bled out.” That sounds really scary. If only we had had the “TEAMS process” at the time — that would have made all the difference. Your kidding, right?
If a mayor doesn’t have anything to do with the crime rate, what do you hold them accountable for? Makes you wonder why vote.
Your negativity here is symptomatic of the malaise that has affected this town for way too long.
Wilder has made plenty of mistakes but how you don’t give him credit for helping with the crime rate is beyond me.
Um, I for one am glad that Richmond is getting safer…