Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Police reject study saying Fort Lauderdale is not safe
Is Fort Lauderdale really that unsafe?
Yes, according to a new study called “Safest Cities in America” by the financial website WalletHub.
Broward’s largest city came almost dead last or No. 181 from 182 cities ranked in the report.
Police, however, don’t agree with that assessment and say recent crime figures back them up.
For the listing, researchers looked at what they called three dimensions (home and community safety, natural disaster risk and financial safety) and 39 sub metrics that included the number of mass shootings, hate crimes per capita, unemployment, median credit score and rapes and murders. The metrics were evaluated on a 100-point scale and a score of 100 represented the highest level of safety.
In the home and community safety category, Fort Lauderdale was No. 170. The city also ranked No. 169 in financial safety.
But not so fast, city officials say. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department Tuesday issued a press release highlighting a decrease in crime.
Figures compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show that Fort Lauderdale’s crime rate fell 14.5 percent for the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period last year.
The department cited “proactive patrols, traffic enforcement and the use of traditional policing methods’’ for the downward trend.
Joining Fort Lauderdale in WalletHub’s low safety rankings was Miami at No. 131 and Orlando at No. 164.
So, what was the highest-ranking safest city in Florida? That honor goes to Pembroke Pines at No. 29. Hialeah was No. 75.
The top five safest cities ranked were Columbia, Maryland, followed by South Burlington, Vermont, Plano, Texas, Virginia Beach and Warwick, Rhode Island.
The least safest city was St. Louis, according to the report.