I have both good and bad news for Orlando area residents (2008 Most Dangerous Cities)

This year Orlando was not the Most Dangerous City in Florida, as we were beaten out by Miami Gardens:
No. 13:
Miami Gardens, Florida
Rankings in Crime
Assault: 5
Murder: 24
Rape: 61
Motor Vehicle Theft: 39
Robbery: 12
Burglary: 32

Orlando is ranked as number 18 this year overall, right below Compton which is 17, even though our homicide rate has obviously escalated. But don’t rejoice just yet. In cities with a population of 100,000 to 499, 000, out of 215 cities evaluated, Orlando is ranked as 9th overall.

It should be noted that in 2005, Orlando did not even make the top 25, but in 2006 when Orlando's crime problems started to become obvious, the city was ranked 25th. In 2007, Orlando was ranked 11th, and this year Orlando is now ranked 18th. Maybe this should beg the question, is Orlando’s crime going down, or are the other cities with a higher ranking in this years survey experiencing a major increase?

And in the Most Dangerous States category, Florida also ranks high at number nine:

No. 9: Florida
Rankings in Crime (out of 50)
Assault: 5
Burglary: 10
Murder: 15
Motor Vehicle Theft: 12
Rape: 17
Robbery: 5

There are some who would like to decry these statistical rankings as I reported in an earlier entry, but we do not need these statistics to know that there needs to be some changes implemented in the Orlando area, especially when we review Orlando homicide statistics from past years that clearly demonstrate the emerging pattern:

1996: 47
1997: 40
1998: 46
1999: 45
2000: 50
2001: 42
2002: 53
2003: 59
2004: 55
2005: 71
2006: 113
2007: 98
2008: 115 (in under eleven months and growing steadily)

And the various headlines:

Numbers Show Increase In Orlando Crime
Hotel-Motel Burglaries Increase 47 Percent

It’s not like there hasn’t been any sign posts along the way:

FBI: Murder rate soars in Orlando

FBI, ATF To Fight Crime In Orlando

There have been plenty of recent indicators in the news.

Even former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani has recently taken note of our homicide rate.

And of course, Gun Shy Tourist even offered up his pseudo humorous solution to the growing problem.

There were some cities that were missing in action in the report due to incomplete submision of data as well as some missing metropolitan areas.

In the end, New Orleans, which I discussed in an earlier somewhat humorous diatribe was ranked as the number one most dangerous city, followed by Camden NJ, Detroit MI, St Louis MO, and Oakland CA.