THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170316
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 67 lines
For the ninth consecutive year, the resort city is the nation's safest city in the 200,000 to 800,000 population category, according to a study of FBI statistics released Wednesday.
Virginia Beach, with nearly 436,000 residents, also has the lowest violent-crime rate of all the nation's cities over 200,000 in population, and it has the second-lowest overall crime rate among the country's big cities.
With cities of 200,000 or more residents, only San Jose, Calif., posted a lower crime rate than did Virginia Beach.
Virginia Beach Police Chief Charles R. Wall credited his troops and demographics - it is a predominantly suburban city with no downtown - with keeping crime low.
``We have a professional, well-trained and well-equipped police department,'' he said. ``While we rely on our technology and the talent of our officers, we continue to depend on dedicated citizens who work closely with the department.''
Atlanta, with 31,000 fewer residents than Virginia Beach, was
listed as the nation's most dangerous city. Atlanta police reported 171 crimes for every 1,000 residents in 1995, while Virginia Beach police reported a rate of 47 crimes per 1,000 residents.
An average of eight serious crimes happen each hour in Atlanta; in Virginia Beach, there are 2.3 serious crimes an hour.
The FBI defines serious crimes as murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, auto theft, larceny and arson.
A crime rate is the number of crimes compared with a city's population. Virginia Beach, with a large population and relatively few serious crimes, has a low crime rate. Richmond, with less than half Virginia Beach's population, but about the same number of crimes, has a much higher crime rate.
And while New York City had more serious crimes last year than any other city in the nation, it also has more than 7 million residents, giving it the country's fifth-lowest crime rate among big cities.
The crime rates and city rankings are compiled from 1995 crime reports voluntarily submitted to the FBI by city, county and state police agencies. Not all localities report crimes to the FBI, but most do.
Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach are the only Virginia cities in the 200,000-plus population category. Of the nation's 75 largest cities, Richmond had the 23rd-highest overall crime rate, and Norfolk had the 40th highest rate.
Virginia Beach also had the lowest crime rate of South Hampton Roads cities, with Chesapeake a close second.
Portsmouth had South Hampton Roads' highest crime rate. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
SAFE CITIES
The nation's safest cities in the 200,000 to 800,000 population
category.
1. Virginia Beach
2. Santa Ana, Calif.
3. Anaheim, Calif.
4. Pittsburgh, Penn.
5. Aurora, Colo.
Graphic by The VIRGINIAN-PILOT
NATION'S SAFEST BIG CITIES
Cities with at least 200,000 in population, ranked by numbers of
crime per 1,000 residents.
SOURCE: FBI and Virginia Beach police
[For complete copy, see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: CRIME RATE FBI SURVEY STATISTICS SAFEST CITY by CNB