Three cities in Southeast Missouri were ranked the top ten most dangerous cities in the state by the Home Security Shield company.
Sikeston ranked first in violent crimes.Poplar Bluff ranked seventh and Cape Girardeau ranked ninth.
According to the report, there were 24.14 violent crimes reported per 1,000 residents in Sikeston.
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) considered violent crime to be , “murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.”
The FBI reported Sikeston had more than 390 violent crimes in 2012, with 365 of reports being aggravated assault. There were also 943 property crimes reported.
Deputy Chief Jeff Roland for the Poplar Bluff Police Department said property crime consists of shoplifting, vehicle thefts and thefts from vehicles.
This makes the chance of someone becoming a victim of a crime in Sikeston one in 12.
According to City-Data.com, Sikeston tops the charts for Missouri’s violent crime rate and more than doubled the national crime rate (which includes violent and property crime) in the United States in 2012.
Sikeston averaged 791 total crimes per 100,000 residents while the U.S. averaged 257 reported crimes.
Rolland said the UCR has changed the way shoplifting is reported and the change could cause data to be skewed. Under UCR, if a person was caught shoplifting, the business could issue a letter stating that person could not return to the store.
“Prior to this change, if you were barred from a store and you returned to that store, you were trespassing,” Rolland said. “If you stole from that store while you were trespassing that was considered a theft, a misdemeanor theft. With the new change, now that is considered a burglary.”
Both cities reached a violent crime rate of less than 9 per 1,000 residents, but both had significantly higher property crimes. Poplar Bluff reported more than 78 per 1,000 residents and Cape Girardeau reported more than 68.
Rolland said he thinks Poplar Bluff is not an unsafe place to live.
“Walk the downtown area, talk to our business owners,” Rolland said. “They have a much different opinion. They feel very safe in this city.”
In total, Poplar Bluff had a crime rate of more than 87 per 1,000 residents while Cape Girardeau reached about 75 per 1,000 residents.
The FBI report showed Poplar Bluff had a total of 138 violent crimes and 1,344 property crimes reported in 2012. Cape Girardeau reported 243 violent crimes and 2,628 property crimes.
If both violent crimes and property crimes are taken into account for danger levels in Missouri, Sikeston would not be ranked first, but instead sixth. Poplar Bluff would move to fifth and Cape Girardeau eighth.
The data from Home Security Shield was collected from a 2012 report published by the FBI. Only cities with populations of 10,000 or more and crime rates over 50 were reviewed.