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Last updated on Thursday, January 29, 2015
(UNDATED) - The cities of Washington and Seymour are listed in the top 10 most dangerous places to live in Indiana.
Bedford ranked 27th on the list with one in 26 people likely to be a victim of a crime.
Movoto Real Estate Blog focused on the top areas of crime in the state.
Here are Indiana's 10 most dangerous places:
1. City of Gary - This Lake County city had the second highest total number of crimes per person. With its population of 78,819, it had a 4,719 property crimes and 883 violent crimes. What makes it worse is that 54 of those violent crimes were murders, giving it the highest number of murders per person in the state.
2. Town of Clarksville - Residents in this Clark County town were the most likely to be the victim of a crime out of anywhere in the state. They had just a 1 in 13 chance. The reason Clarksville residents were so likely to be crime victims is that this town had the highest number of crimes per person in 2013. This included the most property crimes, the ninth most violent crimes, and the third most murders per person in the state.
3. City of Indianapolis - The city had a particularly high number of violent crimes in 2013--a total of 10,479 (129 of which were murders). Even with its large population of over 850,000, this still means that Indianapolis had the highest number of violent crimes and the fifth highest number of murders per person. This, plus its 44,606 property crimes gave Indianapolis the fifth highest number of total crimes per person in the state.
4. City of East Chicago - In 2013, East Chicago had the sixth highest number of violent crimes per person, with a total of 196 for its population of just over 29,000 people. Among these, there were 14 rapes, 91 robberies, 81 assaults, and 10 murders, giving it the second most murders per person. This plus its 1,462 property crimes added up to a total of 1,658 crimes--the ninth most per person in Indiana.
5. City of Washington - With just over 11,800 people, Washington is the smallest place in our top 10. For its small population, Washington had a total of 798 crimes in 2013, including 755 property crimes and 43 violent crimes--one of which was a murder. It had the fourth highest number of crimes overall, the third most property crimes, the 17th most violent crimes, and the 12th most murders per person.
6. City of South Bend - This city in St. Joseph County had a high number of crimes pretty much across the board, but particularly alarming were its number of violent crimes. In 2013, it had a total of 664 violent crimes, including 199 assaults, 363 robberies, 93 rapes, and 9 murders, giving it the seventh most violent crimes and the 10th most murders per person. It also had the 15th most property crimes per person, all adding up to the 13th most crimes per person--or just a 1 in 18 chance of being the victim of a crime for residents.
7. City of Hammond - This city ranked 20th out of 57 places for its property crime. Aside from having the 20th most property crimes per person, Hammond also had the third highest number of violent crimes, including the eighth highest number of murders per person. All of this added up to a total of 3,889 crimes in 2013--the 18th highest number of crimes per person--which meant that residents had just a 1 in 20 chance of being the victim of a crime.
8. City of Seymour - Seymour residents were some of the most likely in the state to be the victim of a crime. They had just a 1 in 14 chance in 2013. The reason that they were so likely to be crime victims is simple: Seymour had the third most crimes per person in the state. These 1,301 crimes were made up of 1,201 property crimes (the second most per person) and 100 violent crimes (the 10th most per person). Luckily, none of these violent crimes included murder--though there were seven rapes, six robberies, and 87 assaults in this community of 18,655 residents.
9. City of Lafayette - In 2013, Lafayette had a total of 3,805 crimes for its population of just over 68,000 residents - the 11th most crimes per person. These were made up of 3,416 property crimes (the 12th most per person) and 389 violent crimes (the eighth most). Two of those violent crimes were murders. West Lafayette, on the other hand, came in as one of the safest places we looked at, with the third fewest crimes overall, and no murders.
10. Town of Speedway - It ranked in our top 10 because it had the fourth highest number of murders per person in the state. Of course in a much larger city, two murders in one year might not seem a high number, but in a town of under 12,000 residents, it is. In addition to the two murders, Speedway had 27 other violent crimes, giving it the 28th most violent crimes per person, and 628 property crimes - the 10th most property crimes per person. The group gathered facts and figures and then carefully analyzed them before coming up with their list.
In this case, they used records from experts: The FBI. They recently released their 2013 Uniform Crime Report, which they used to look at all of the places in Indiana with populations of 10,000 people or more in terms of the following criteria:
They then divided these crimes into four categories:
They then calculated the number of crimes per person, or per capita, for each of our 57 places and ranked each with a score from one to 57 in each category.
They weighed violent crimes, murders, and property crimes more heavily than total crimes. So the first three made up 30 percent of the overall score, while total crimes made up just 10 percent.
The last step was to averaged each place's weighted scores into one Big Deal Score, where the lowest score was the most dangerous place in the state.
These ranking are not a critique of police practices or effectiveness. It simply an analysis of where crimes occurred.
To learn more and see a complete list of cities visit http://www.movoto.com/in/most-dangerous-places-in-indiana/
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