The site uses data from uniform crime reporting, or UCR, a FBI database. But is this list accurate?
"It shouldn't be done in the first place, because there’s too many variables,” said Jerry Worrell, crime analyst for the Farmington Police Department.
On the UCR website, there is a list of variables explaining why these numbers shouldn't be used for rankings. One variable is population change. Farmington is the largest town in the region and a lot of people come into town throughout the week. Worrell said if a violent crime is committed when those people come to town, the numbers won't be accurate.
"The population at any given time is much greater than what would be counted on the U.S. census report,” he said. Worrell also said the department misreported certain crimes.
"What they called aggravated assault for example and what the state defines aggravated assault under state code are quite different and there's some confusion in that," he said. He said after this survey came out, the department identified the confusion so the city doesn't get back on this list.
No other New Mexico town was on the list. Read more
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