Area crime-rate ranking poor

Robberies and automobile thefts have boosted Southern Nevada's crime rate to the fourth-highest in the country, according to a report released this week.

The annual study by Washington-based book publisher CQ Press claims the region ranks first in the number of auto thefts and fourth in the number of robberies per capita.

Southern Nevada's crime rate lags only behind the metropolitan areas of Pine Bluff, Ark., Memphis, Tenn., and New Orleans, in that order.

The publication also rates crime in individual cities. Las Vegas as a city, not a metropolitan area, was ranked 56th out of 385 cities in the country; North Las Vegas was No. 88 and Henderson was ranked 270th.

Las Vegas police downplayed the significance of the rankings. "We think their system of compiling these things is flawed," officer Ramon Denby said.

The validity of CQ Press' annual rankings have long been in dispute, and the FBI, whose Uniform Crime Reports provide the data for CQ's rankings, warns on its Web site against using the data to rank cities.

Such rankings "lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents," the FBI disclaimer reads.

CQ Press spokesman Ben Krasney acknowledged that the rankings don't take into account the sources of crime, such as a transient population or Las Vegas' 40 million annual visitors.

He said he's been fielding a lot of calls this week from reporters in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for example, a small tourist down that draws millions of visitors each year and was ranked with the 14th highest crime rate among metropolitan areas.

"Myrtle Beach has their bike week, and they more or less have to bring in the National Guard for two weeks in the summer," Krasney said.

Southern Nevada fared far better in the rates of violent crimes and burglaries, according to Krasney. The region ranked 46th in the murder rate, 59th in the rate of rapes, 39th in the rate of aggravated assaults and 63rd in the burglary rate.

The Logan, Utah, metropolitan area had the lowest crime rate of the 338 metropolitan areas ranked.

Automobile thefts have been a continuous black mark in Southern Nevada, garnering the second-worst spot for the rate per capita in a study this year by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

But Las Vegas police have seen a drastic 36 percent drop from last year to this year so far.

Robberies are down 12 percent so far this year from last year also.

"We're kicking butt, but there's obviously some work left to do," Denby said.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.