Survey ranks Nevada most dangerous state

Molly Ball

Friday, April 30, 2004 | 8:43 a.m.

Nevada is the most dangerous state in the country, according to a recently released annual survey of state crime rates.

The Silver State, formerly No. 2, swapped places with Louisiana, last year's most dangerous state, to assume the lead in the rankings compiled by Kansas research group Morgan Quitno Press.

Nevada was the 45th healthiest state and the 30th most livable in the rankings, which were released on April 2. Last year the group determined Nevada to be the 49th smartest state.

Scott Morgan, Morgan Quitno's president, noted that Nevada beat Louisiana by a wide margin to become the most dangerous state.

Morgan said Nevada's high crime rate was a side effect of the state's explosive growth, but noted other factors that make Nevada different from other states.

"Nevada is an odd state mainly because of population distribution," he said. "You have lots of wide open spaces with no people and no crime.

"Las Vegas as a city compared to other cities doesn't do that badly, but it basically makes up the whole state in terms of population, and urban areas are always going to have more crime than rural areas," Morgan added.

In a survey last November, Morgan Quitno ranked Las Vegas the 12th most dangerous city.

Other states, such as Florida, California and Texas, have experienced rapid growth like Nevada's, Morgan noted, but those states had substantial rural populations to absorb the inevitable increase in urban crime.

States are ranked by comparing their rates of reported crime in six categories -- murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft -- to the national average. The data come from 2002 FBI statistics, the latest available.

Jose Montoya, spokesman for Metro Police, cautioned that he could not speak for the whole state, but said the police force has not grown fast enough to keep up with Clark County.

The Las Vegas Valley has about 1.7 officers for every 1,000 residents, he said, compared to a national average of 2.8.

"And that's not even counting the tourists," he said, who take up much of Metro's time but are not included in population statistics.

More than 1.5 million visitors per month pass through Las Vegas on average, he noted.

Metro is changing its strategies to pinpoint where and on what days crimes tend to happen in order to target specific areas, Montoya said. Auto theft in particular is a "booming" crime in Las Vegas, he said, "and we have to stop it before it occurs."

Terry Miethe, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and co-author of "The Mismeasure of Crime," said rankings such as the recent survey should be read with "a healthy degree of skepticism" because of inconsistencies in states' reporting methods and differences between states that make comparisons invalid.

"It's really pointless to compare states because what happens in Nevada is a function of what happens in Las Vegas," he said.

The survey, he said, "is just an exercise in the need to rank things, which seems to be basic to humans."

Breaking down the crime categories, Nevada ranked second to Maryland in robberies and second to Arizona in auto thefts. Nevada was fourth in murders, 11th in rapes, 14th in burglaries and 16th in aggravated assaults.

Nevada also ranked "most dangerous" in 1999, 1997 and 1996. Of Nevada's neighbors, Arizona ranked third this year, California 10th, Oregon 32nd, Utah 38th and Idaho 40th.

North Dakota was the safest state, as it has been for seven of the last 10 years.

New Hampshire took the prize for healthiest state, with Mississippi bringing up the rear. New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina were also rated less healthy than 45th-place Nevada.

Massachusetts was the smartest state based on its elementary and secondary education system; New Mexico was last in that category, in which Nevada was second-worst.

New Hampshire was the most livable state according to a variety of indicators related to the economy, education, health, safety and the environment. Mississippi was least livable.

Police departments can quibble with statistical methods, but they still must face the fact that there is a lot of crime in Nevada, Morgan said.

"There are two ways to react to this (list)," he said. "One is that it's all a load of crud. The other, which I'm more impressed with, is to say, 'We don't think we're the worst, but we know we've got issues,' and then to lay out the steps that they as professionals think are going to help."