LAWRENCE, Kan. (Reuters) - Amherst, N.Y. is America's safest city and Detroit is the most dangerous when it comes to crime, according to the Eighth Annual Safest City Award announced on Friday by Morgan Quitno Press.
The Kansas publisher included 327 municipalities with populations of 75,000 or more in the study, comparing them in six major crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.
Amherst, a small city of 117,000 in western New York State, won top honors for the second consecutive year and the fifth time in the award's eight years. With a population of just under a million, Detroit ranked worst for the third straight year.
``We're overjoyed because we have worked so hard to make this happen. We know public safety is so important when people are choosing a place to live,'' Amherst Supervisor Susan Grelick told Reuters.
Greg Bowens, press secretary to outgoing Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, said violent crime was at its lowest level in 30 years in the city, having dropped more than 22 percent between 1993 and 2000.
``It's clearly disappointing for them to reach this conclusion in the face of these dramatic drops. Detroit is a much safer place than it has been in a generation,'' he said.
Morgan Quitno uses FBI statistics in working out its safety ratings.
The total number of violent crimes reported decreased in the first half of the year, despite a slight increase in murders and robberies, the FBI said on Monday.
Last year Amherst had no murders and low numbers in the other areas -- four rapes, 26 robberies, 44 aggravated assaults, 131 stolen vehicles and 169 burglaries.
Detroit recorded 396 murders, 811 rapes, 7,868 robberies, 13,037 aggravated assaults, 15,828 burglaries and 25,892 stolen vehicles.
The city's crime rates in all categories exceed national averages, according to Morgan Quitno's analysis.
Following Amherst as America's least crime-ridden cities are Newton, Mass.; Mission Viejo, Calif.; Cary, N.C.; and Brick Township, N.J.
At the most dangerous end after Detroit are Atlanta, Ga.; St. Louis, Miss.; Baltimore, Md.; and Gary, Indiana.
Among major cities, New York -- the largest in the United States -- ranked 195th down the list, with Denver coming in at 200th and San Francisco at 212th.
The awards are the basis for the eighth edition of Morgan Quitno's ``City Crime Rankings.'' Like Money Magazine's annual ''Best Places To Live'' issue, the book is used primarily by people thinking of relocating who want an idea of a city or area's quality of life, said Scott Morgan, Morgan Quitno's president. You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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