Despite leading the nation in violent crime reduction over the past three years, Baltimore remains one of the nation’s most violent cities, the Baltimore Sun says. The FBI’s uniform crime reports released Monday demonstrate that since 1999, Baltimore cut incidents of serious crime by 25.98 percent, best in the country. But the same data show Baltimore ranked second among the 25 largest cities in the rate of violent crimes per 100,000 residents for 2002 – behind only Detroit.
The ranking is an improvement from 2001, when Baltimore had the worst per capita crime rate for murders, aggravated assaults, rapes and robberies. Per capita statistics, the typical barometer of safety, are used to determine federal funding for crime-prevention efforts. “We still have a long way to go, but we’ve also come a long way,” Mayor Martin O’Malley said.