FBI ranks New York the safest large city in the country
From Jonathan Wald
CNN
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- New York has the lowest crime rate of the 10 largest cities in the United States, the FBI said Monday in its annual crime report.
Among the 230 cities with populations of more than 100,000, New York City ranks 208th with an overall crime rate of 3,100 per 100,000. In 1993 New York ranked 88th of cities with populations of more than 100,000.
The FBI's data consisted of the seven indexed crimes of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny theft and motor vehicle theft.
Serious crime in the United States rose by less than one-tenth of 1 percent in 2002, while New York City's crime rate decreased 5 percent to the lowest level since the 1960's.
Nationwide, murder increased 1 percent while the New York City murder rate dropped 9.6 percent in 2002, to its lowest level since 1963.
"While the conventional wisdom said New York's crime rate would increase in a recession and fiscal crisis, the Police Department proved it wrong," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the 2003 homicide rate is on course to be either the lowest or second lowest in 40 years. "All of this is being done at a time when the department has 4,000 fewer officers than three years ago, and when we must now focus a tremendous amount of resources on counter terrorism," Kelly said.
New York's metropolitan population is 17,639,788, according to the FBI's Web site.
