St. Louis - Most Dangerous City in Country

Colleges & Universities Washington University in St. Louis
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<p>By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD
Associated Press Writer</p>

<p>October 30, 2006, 8:53 AM CST</p>

<p>ST. LOUIS – A surge in violence made St. Louis the most dangerous city in the country, leading a trend of violent crimes rising much faster in the Midwest than in the rest of nation, according to an annual list.</p>

<p>The city has long fared poorly in the rankings of the safest and most dangerous American cities compiled by Morgan Quitno Press. Violent crime surged nearly 20 percent in St. Louis from 2004 to last year, when the rate of such crimes rose most dramatically in the Midwest, according to FBI figures released in June.</p>

<p>“It’s just sad the way this city is,” resident Sam Dawson said. “On the news you hear killings, someone’s been shot.”</p>

<p>The ranking, being released Monday, came as the city was still celebrating Friday’s World Series victory at the new Busch Stadium. St. Louis has been spending millions of dollars on urban renewal even as the crime rate climbs.</p>

<p>Mayor Francis Slay did not return calls to his office seeking comment Sunday.</p>

<p>Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press, a private research and publishing company specializing in state and city reference books, said he was not surprised to see St. Louis top the list, since it has been among the 10 most dangerous cities for years.</p>

<p>The study looks at crime only within St. Louis city limits, with a population of about 330,000, Morgan said. It doesn’t take into account the suburbs in St. Louis County, which has roughly 980,000 residents.</p>

<p>Visiting St. Louis on Thursday, FBI director Robert Mueller said it was too early to tell why some types of crime were rising faster in the Midwest.</p>

<p>Mueller said the FBI is working harder to form partnerships with police departments to launch programs like St. Louis’ Safe Streets task force, which focuses police efforts on problematic neighborhoods.</p>

<p>The safest city in 2005 was Brick, N.J., with a population about 78,000, followed by Amherst, N.Y., and Mission Viejo, Calif. The second most dangerous city was Detroit, followed by Flint, Mich., and Compton, Calif.</p>

<p>The bad news for St. Louis was good for Camden, N.J., which in 2005 was named the most dangerous city for the second year in a row.</p>

<p>Camden Mayor Gwendolyn Faison said Sunday she was thrilled to learn that her city no longer topped the most-dangerous list.</p>

<p>“You made my day!” said Faison, who has served since 2000. “There’s a new hope and a new spirit.”</p>

<p>Cities are ranked based on more than just their crime rate, Morgan said. Individual crimes such as rape or burglary are measured separately, compared to national averages and then compiled to give a city its ranking. Crimes are weighted based on their level of danger.</p>

<p>The national FBI figures released in June showed the murder rate in St. Louis jumped 16 percent from 2004 to 2005, compared with 4.8 percent nationally. The overall violent crime rate increased nearly 20 percent, compared with 2.5 percent nationally.</p>

<p>While crime increased in all regions last year, the 5.7 percent rise in the 12 Midwestern states was at least three times higher than any other region, according to the FBI.</p>

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<p>Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.</p>

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<p>On the Net:</p>

<p>St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay: <a href=“http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/mayor”>http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/mayor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Morgan Quitno Press: <a href=“http://www.morganquitno.com/”>http://www.morganquitno.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Figured somebody would bring that up.</p>

<p>Here’s link to campus crime stats through 2005: <a href=“http://police.wustl.edu/crime%202005.htm[/url]”>http://police.wustl.edu/crime%202005.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As the stats make evident, WashU is not exactly a crime ridden campus. Also, only a small portion of the campus is actually in St. Louis. To be precise, WashU is on the western border of St. Louis (along with a bunch of other schools), in an up-scale neighborhood, and is separated from much of St. Louis proper by a large park. In short, the campus is safe.</p>

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<p>Haha, I just signed in because I was going to post the same article. I know the campus isn’t really in St. Louis, but it still scares me a little. I’m apply ED to Olin and I think my chances are alright, but if I get in, I definitely don’t want my mother seeing that article.</p>

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<p>Don’t be scared. UPenn, U of Chicago, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and Yale (you read that right) are in much funkier neighborhoods than Wash U. I can’t imagine any one would turn down the opportunity to go to any of those schools because the neighborhood is a tad gritty.</p>

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<p>Hi everyone-
My son is a sophomore at Wash U & while I consider the St. Louis stats
very sad, they don’t cause me huge concern. Wash U is very removed
from downtown St. Louis or, even worse, East St. Louis. I would be much
more concerned if I had a s/d considering St. Louis U, which is much more
urban.</p>

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<p>Since I have visited, I know that there’s no reason to worry about where the campus is located. WashU is no more “in” St. Louis than Northwestern is “in” Chicago. Wash is ensconced in a small-town suburban community that is as safe as any other I know. </p>

<p>As the mom of a freshman, the only thing that would worry me is if WashU students routinely go into St. Louis and, not knowing the city well, might venture into areas that are decidedly unsafe. So I am wondering if new students get any guidance about where it’s relatively safe to go in St. Louis. And do students tend to venture into the city or is there enough to do on campus or in the nearby community?</p>

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<p>Wash U is actually in University City, not St. Louis City</p>

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<p>This statistic is actually pretty incorrect, as the publishing company is definitely aggregating the St. Louis, MO data with East St. Louis, IL data to come to this conclusion. Here’s some data from Wikipedia/City-Data (all numbers are per population of 100,000):</p>

<p>Crime East St. Louis St. Louis New York
murder 63.4 32.5 7.1
rape 228.3 31.9 17.8
robbery 760.9 755.9 304.3
assault 6,131.5 1,160.6 366.1
burglary 2,948.4 1,809.4 325.9
auto theft 1,968.8 2,559.5 263.1</p>

<p>As you can see, East. St. Louis is a lot more dangerous than St. Louis, MO, so St. Louis, MO itself cannot be the most dangerous city in America.</p>

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<p>From my understanding (talking to my son who is a senior at WUStL), it is safe. But one should try to avoid walking any side streets coming back from the Loop in the middle of the night (stick with the well-lit and traversed main path) and also the MetroLink station at the Loop at night.</p>

<p>Students need to be alert wherever they go. But the WUStL neighborhood isn’t particularly scary, having looked at most of the campuses amptron2x mentions. (Although U Chicago is much, much better than it used to be; whether the area continues to be crime-ridden is a matter of some dispute.)</p>

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<p>I think that this is ridiculous. I have lived in St. Louis for pretty much my entire life, and I’ve never felt scared here. I think that New York is probably more dangerous.</p>

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<p>Hmmmm…there are no worries on the campus itself or the upscale area to the west and south. However, the area to the north and north east is not ‘suburban’ by any stretch of the imagination. Suburban students or visitors should exercise extreme caution when travelling in those directions, especially at night. </p>

<p>New York is safer because there are more people on the streets in the evenings. The easternmost portion of WashU is in the city limits. Many off-campus students and faculty live in the City.</p>

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<p>Anyway, Washu is pretty safe. Trust me, crime is very infrequent here.</p>