Detroit is No. 1, but not in a good way

Detroit has pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's analysis of annual FBI crime statistics. On the other end of the spectrum was Mission Viejo, Calif., deemed the safest city.

The 14th annual "City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America," released Sunday, was published by CQ Press, a unit of Congressional Quarterly Inc. It is based on the FBI's Sept. 24 crime statistics report.

The basics: The report looked at per capita rates for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft in more than 300 metro areas with at least 75,000 people. Each category, considered separately, was weighted for its seriousness, CQ Press said.

The study assigned a crime score to each city, with zero representing the national average. Detroit got a score of 407, while St. Louis scored 406. Mission Viejo, in affluent Orange County, was minus 82. CQ Press spokesman Ben Krasney said details of the weighting system were proprietary.

The study excluded Minneapolis, Chicago and other Minnesota and Illinois cities because of incomplete data.

Other rankings: After Detroit and St. Louis on the most dangerous list came Flint, Mich., Oakland Calif.; Camden, N.J.; Birmingham, Ala.; North Charleston, S.C.; Memphis; Richmond, Calif., and Cleveland. After Mission Viejo, the safest cities are: Clarkstown, N.Y.; Brick Township, N.J.; Amherst, N.Y.; Sugar Land, Texas; Colonie, N.Y.; Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Newton, Mass.; Toms River Township, N.J., and Lake Forest, Calif.

Criticism: The FBI posted a statement on its website saying: "These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state or region." The American Society of Criminology said the rankings were "an irresponsible misuse" of crime data.

ASSOCIATED PRESS