City takes a hit in crime stats

By Charles Sercombe
First the bad news.
According to a ranking of 186 Michigan cities, Hamtramck has the seventh worst crime rate.
That’s the result of a study performed by an organization called Value Penguin, a consumer research company.
The company based that ranking on FBI crime statistics from 2013. In that year Hamtramck, with a population listed as 22,017, experienced 366 violent crimes, 159 robberies, 191 assaults, 814 property crimes, 244 break-ins, 334 thefts and 236 car thefts, and a number of other crime categories.
Crime statistics for 2014 are not available yet.
The good news in all of this, is that one has to keep perspective, said Police Chief Max Garbarino.
“I would say that considering Detroit is on their chart as number one worst, and we are completely surrounded by them, we are doing pretty darn good,” Garbarino said after getting permission from the city manager to talk with The Review.
City Manager Katrina Powell has told department heads not to talk to the media without first getting her permission.
Hamtramck has long suffered from being neighbors of Detroit and Highland Park (which is listed as the city with the eighth worst crime rate in the state).
Because Hamtramck is viewed as a relative oasis in an area of poverty and blight, criminals have better pickings here than in their hometowns.
At least, this has long been the explanation that city officials have clung to when asked to explain the amount of crime here.
Garbarino credited his officers with being able to apprehend hundreds of suspects each year, something that gets overlooked in crime reporting.
“It is truly a testament to how hard our officers work to keep our city safe,” he said.
Furthermore, Garbarino said crime rates can be deceiving in another way.
“Statistics are only as good as the people reporting them and without naming any cities in particular, there is no way imaginable that some of those listed are safer than Hamtramck,” Garbarino said.
If you are wondering who made the top 10 worst crime rate list, here it is:
10th – Harper Woods
9th – Benton Twp.
8th – Highland Park
7th – Hamtramck
6th – Inkster
5th – Muskegon Heights
4th – Saginaw
3rd – Flint
2nd – Benton Harbor
1st — Detroit