WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — Two Mid-South cities ranked in the top ten as one of the most dangerous cities in the nation. West Memphis is one of those cities.
West Memphis sits at number 10 on a Top 100 Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. list.
“It doesn’t surprise me. It doesn’t surprise me one bit,” said Eddie Sides.
“I’m shocked. I can’t believe it. We don’t really deserve that. It’s a quiet community, and, because a few elements are not doing the right thing, it’s too bad we made the list,”said Jacqueline Argbede.
The new study comes from Neighborhood Scout.
They look at the most recent violent crimes reported to the FBI such as murder, rape, armed robbery and aggravated assault.
“Those numbers are only as good what each city reports,” Said Capt. Joe Baker.
Captain Baker, with the West Memphis Police Department, says there’s no standard for cities to enter police reports in the Uniform Crime Report or UCR.
“Basically, the only time anything is ever entered into the UCR is when a report is taken. If it’s a crime and a report isn’t taken then there’s no data sent to the UCR,” Captain Baker said.
“If you pick and chose what you take reports on then your UCR numbers can be manipulated,” he said.
Captain Baker says over the past few years they’ve had a trend down in their violent crime numbers.
“We have crime in West Memphis, sure we do. Everyone has it,” he said.
Jacqueline Argbede says she’s aware of the crime in West Memphis, but never imagined her home being the tenth most dangerous.
“I don’t think we should be in the top 10 at all. That’s shocking to hear. I don’t know, probably number 40 out of the nation. Definitely not top 10,” she said.