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BUCK IN, COP OUT

America's Top 5 Most Underpoliced Cities

They can be found in the Midwest and the Deep South

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

A "smash and grab" burglary / Image: forensics4fiction.com

For some folks, the phrase "Where's a cop when you need one?" is more than just a cliche.

Abby Rogers at Business Insider informs us of a new study out of UC Berkeley showing that "for every dollar spent on police, the average US city can expect about $1.60 in reduced crime costs." While that would appear to be a bargain anywhere, researchers Aaron Chaflin and Justin McCrary suggest that for American cities facing sky-high crime rates, it's a no-brainer to keep the police force well-funded.

According to McCrary and Chaflin, the top five cities in the nation that would gain the most from keeping police budgets intact - a fiscal fight jurisdictions across the country are currently contending with - are as follows:

#5 Youngstown, Ohio. "Each additional $1 spent on police could reduce crime by $5.60."

#4 Saginaw, Michigan. "Each additional $1 spent on police could reduce crime by $5.90."

#3 Flint, Michigan. "Each additional $1 spent on police could reduce crime by $7.50."

#2 New Orleans, Louisiana. "Each additional $1 spent on police could reduce crime by $8.20."

#1 Gary, Indiana. "Each additional $1 spent on police could reduce crime by $14.00."

Via Business Insider.
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Do you feel that your city is underpoliced?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • UnCommonBoston
    !
    In Boston the police are at all construction/repair jobs on the street with their police car's lights on. Theft in my neighborhood has recently dropped. Officers are around, they are helpful and kind for the most part. I feel very safe here. Other parts of Boston are more crime ridden, but in general I think they do a good job.
  • o
    woodtick57
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    I don't know about in Boston, but in Mn the company I work with has to hire those police as part of the bid for the job. (and they are on overtime, outside of their normal duties.)
  • UnCommonBoston
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    @woodtick57 I think it is the same here. The result is we have police on the street hanging out in a nonthreatening manner; which I think is good. The police in Fairfax Virgina, outside DC and very wealthy, were not nearly as helpful. They seemed most interested in speed traps and writing tickets. Even my college age child noticed how different they are here. When had a series of thefts in our neighborhood and had a difficult time getting their attention. They wanted us to file complaints online.

    Recently there have been a few instances where people have chased and captured pickpockets. Just regular Boston folk. Guy stole an IPhone and was chased by a small group.

    When I lived in DC the officers of the various agencies were nice, but so overwhelmed.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    Another observation though, if liberals stop committing so many crimes in those inner city havens of poverty they wouldn't need more police. Too bad that's an idea that is not acceptable to liberals.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @MBernard - Indiana is a state, not a city. I don't recall seeing Indiana state on that list, I recall seeing Gary, Indiana (a city) on the list. And that city is a bastion of liberalism if I ever saw it.
  • Thunderchicken
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix

    I remember an interview with a local inner city leader. When asked about the lawlessness that was occurring, her response was that it was in the culture of the residents to be like that. While she was being lambasted for her response, I had to wonder if she actually made a good point.
  • WMCOL
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    LOL. The usual self-effacing Con. Conservative hypocrisy to the max.

    When a conservative does wrong other conservatives immediately deny the person was a conservative and if so, claims person was so only in name, a RINO.
  • View all 60 replies >
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    I agree. Those cities (all voted for Democrats for decades and voted this year for their obama phones) raise criminals generation after generation. These cities will never change because of the types of people that live in them. It's obvious residents of those citizens have a deep "entitlement" mentality and have little to known in the way of skills, education, or work ethic.
  • u
    Cheenoguy
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix
    Maybe that's why red states have higher crime rates.
    And Bush phones dude, Bush phones. Get a clue man and then maybe you could actually contribute to intellectual conversation.
  • stepped_in_it
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    @Cheenoguy Bush phones. Bush tax cuts. Can we at least agree on this? If one president admin. starts a "program" and the next president admin. accepts it without (at least) trying to eliminate it, then it becomes the new president admin.'s program? I managed people. When I went to a new store/area, I at least tried to change MY people to MY way of thinking or accepted the old way as mine!
  • marine1
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix I would be willing to bet th`at if folks of "entitlement mentality" had the opportunity to go to work and earn $50.00 a week more than they get from welfare, 50+% would turn the job down.
  • u
    Cheenoguy
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    @stepped_in_it
    I have no problem with that. I just get irritated with low information voters thinking Obama did it. Especially irritating when people who frequent this site and have to know the truth try to treat that as an "Obama buying votes" program.
  • View all 9 replies >
  • FFX_VA
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    The cops do a great job where I live, the county is hit or miss though depending on where you live. The benefits these guys get are crazy good though, esp for the top dogs, it costs the county big time.
  • o
    Sonny
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    Well in my community, they only do a "so-so" job in curtailing crime anyway...They seem to focus more on the "victim-less" crimes and not on preventing other types of crime.
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    Sonny
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    @FFX_VA I don't know about PG, but when I am in DC, I actually DO feel safer...But not because of anything that the police do there. I just like DC and many of its communities.
  • martydotcom
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    Locals do great job. too much to drink call they will
    Ipdrive you home.
    County Sheriff a money machine 1 officer got award 536 seat belt tickets in 30 days 95% out of state drivers another 420 speeding most for less than 10 MPH over limit majority out of state &rental car
  • mimi57
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    I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. It was a great place to grow up and I have some great memories of it.
    However, it has always had it's a share of crime. The mob ran Youngstown when I was young and though mobsters only kill each other, it was still something you were aware of . My classmate was killed when his
    fathers car was blown up as he was taking him to school. Most everyone has moved to the suburbs, Boardman, Canfield, Poland, etc. leaving behind one of the most dangerous areas to live in. There' s a different kind of
    gangster there now, drug dealers, prostitution,robberies, etc. The soup kitchen that Paul Ryan went to, is in one
    of the worst areas in town. There are shootings there almost weekly. Youngstown has no industry now, the city
    is broke, there are not enough people working to pay taxes...kinda what's happening in our government. It may
    be a peek into the future of our country...it's what happens when more people are taking and not enough are putting into the pot...pretty sad and certainly no place I'd want to live anymore. Is this our future?...
  • View all 13 replies >
  • Dan_Tien
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    Yes, I feel that the area where I live is under-policed. Whenever there is a call for new taxes, government threatens to cut police, fire and education if it is not passed by voters and the threats are carried out. There really is no point in reporting property crimes here. They are not investigated. Even if perpetrators of property crimes are caught in the act, they are not kept in jail. What doesn't seem to happen is lower pay or benefits for elected officials, elimination of "fact-finding" vacations to foreign countries or group team building trips to Las Vegas.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    Dan, it sounds like we live in the same city, but I'd bet there are many like that. Local police force has been cut and cut again until there is one patrol car for every few square miles of residential area, with only a little more concentration downtown. Butter scraped over too much bread, but no shortage of elected officials and city administrators with fabulous job perks.
  • u
    ctc
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    Yup, we're definitely under policed in Jax.........our only hope is that the criminal element fattens up enough to move on to greener pastures.....like Atlanta or Miami.
  • Thunderchicken
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    Where does East St. Louis fall? I figured it was the top one.

    Seriously, where I live policing is still done by the county sheriff. And they do a great job. But as for inner city settings, I was once advised by an East St. Louis cop to carry a gun.(Illinois has very restrictive gun laws and carrying is probably illegal.) When law enforcement encourages law abiding people to break the law, there's a big problem.
  • WMCOL
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    Now there's an idea. Bring back the lawless ways of the old West.

    Police and community have to work together.
  • PoliticalSpice
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    @WMCOL
    Well it has been tried, results have not been that great. My experiance abd observation tells me police are responsible for more then a little crime: corruption, drug dealing, assaults in the form of brutallity, murders which they often get away with because theyvan cover up the evidence, drug dealing, pimping, even rape. I think big city police departments are for the most part a negative, and that community patrols would be far prefereable.
  • WMCOL
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    @PoliticalSpice
    You still must have law-enforcement for incarceration, making charges, and the whole legal process.

    The situation you describe screams out for police and community to work together. You are describing how it does not work which means there is a need to find a way for it to work. The community elects the people who oversee the running of the city, and who are responsible for the police, the courts, and the city justice system.

    You begin by changing how city hall operates by electing and putting in place people who will do the right thing. People must go to council meetings and make their views known and diligently work to change the very situation you describe.

    What you've done is again demonstrate the great need for police and community to work together, which was stated at beginning of this conversation.
  • View all 13 replies >
  • TheJimmy
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    I've seen Gary, Indiana show up on top 10 lists for both highest crime cities as well as most Liberal cities. Very interesting.
  • FollowTheMoney
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    No real crime waves in my home town. I live in a rural county in south central Kentucky. I have a cabinet full of guns , and I use them, as do most of my neighbors. The criminals are aware of this and 'Surprise Surprise" go where the guns aren't to commit their crimes.
  • DogLady_1
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    Repeal the war on drugs, and cops will have more time and resources to go after thieves and violent criminals. Repeal the war on drugs, and communities will see fewer thefts and violent crimes. Repeal the war on drugs, and we eliminate the number one cause of police corruption that helps crime to thrive in our communities.
  • o
    Republican5001
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    Sure, then repeal all domestic violence laws, illegal immigration laws and repeal the abolition of slavery. Make everyone on the same level and turn the cops loose.
  • DogLady_1
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    @Republican5001 - That was a knee-jerk response based on unfounded rhetoric.

    "It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve." -Henry George
  • DogLady_1
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    @Republican5001 - "The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." --Einstein
  • TheJimmy
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    The so-called "stop snitching" campaign that's been going on in America's inner cities have made cops obsolete anyhow so there's really no need to waste money on hiring more officers.
  • o
    vigilant
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    The common thread with all these cities is that they are all governed by Democrats - who drive out the few remaining employers, and pander to the violent street criminals. These were all good prosperous healthy cities - before they passed NAFTA and GATT (thereby exporting most of the jobs).
  • o
    Sabio
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    yes, antioch has gone to the dogs! filthy, predator head, pant saggin beast roam the streets at all hours looking for their next victim, almost a murder a week for the past couple years now.
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