The FBI cautions against using its data to rank cities, and Baltimore's status at the top among the largest cities may be in question. In January, the Detroit News reported that there were 344 killings there in 2008, but the total submitted to the FBI was 306.
That gap translates into a difference between first or second place for Detroit, a city of about 905,000. Baltimore's population was estimated at 634,000.Officials with the Criminal Justice Information Services Division in West Virginia, which prepares the data, said it was unaware of the discrepancy and could not comment. Detroit police did not return phone calls seeking comment yesterday.
Daniel W. Webster, co-director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, said boundary lines can play into some of the differences between cities; he said cities such as Baltimore and Washington have boundaries drawn tightly around their urban core, while Philadelphia and Los Angeles benefit from large suburban areas inside municipal boundaries that temper their crime statistics.
But Webster said Baltimore also continues to suffer from comparatively high rates of poverty, unemployment and drug addiction, problems that are not easily reversed.
"All of those things consistently correlate to high homicide rates," Webster said.
Webster said that despite its ranking, Baltimore officials should be proud of drops in violent crime.
"Yes, Baltimore is a violent place, but we can make things safer; we have in recent years," Webster said. "We shouldn't expect miracles in a short period of time."
Asked about recent attacks in Baltimore, Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that the city's violent reputation is undeserved. The former mayor said that Baltimore's long struggle with crime, chronicled in popular television shows, continues to overshadow declines achieved in recent years.
"It's one of the things we labor under," O'Malley said.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said in a recent interview that too much stock is put in the homicide rate.
"One of the things we live with in Baltimore that's almost like a self-creation is this incredible focus around the homicide number, and we made great gains [in 2008] as a city working collectively," Bealefeld said. "That sends a message across the community, that with all of our partners it's possible to make inroads around that issue."
