CRESTVIEW — Is Crestview a hotbed of crime or was data misinterpreted?
The city ranks 180th on ValuePenguin's 2014 Safest Cities in Florida Study. Valparaiso and Niceville ranked No. 10 and No. 15, respectively; and Fort Walton Beach, No. 86.
In 2012, the last year for which data was available, Crestview had 186 violent crimes and 38 robberies, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics.
But Crestview officials said the report does not consider variables that can skew the results.
“Even on the FBI’s site it clearly states these numbers aren’t intended for the media,” Crestview Police spokesman Lt. Don Fountain said. “The numbers can be skewed based on population and other factors.”
The data “provide no insight into the many variables that mold the crime in a particular town, city, county, state, region, or other jurisdiction,” the FBI's website states. “Consequently, these rankings lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting cities and counties, along with their residents.”
2012, the last year covered by the report, was a time of turmoil in the Crestview Police Department; a period of low morale resulting from allegations against senior police leadership, local officials said.
Until Chief Tony Taylor's arrival at the end of 2012, the police department was understaffed, Mayor David Cadle stated in a media release.
“This doesn’t tell the whole story,” Cadle’s release stated. “In 2013, Chief Taylor’s first year in office, violent crime decreased 12.2 percent and overall crime decreased 13.1 percent, which is the last full year data are available. For the first six months of 2014, violent crime was down an additional 6 percent.”
“The statistics from this point forward will be as accurate as we can make them,” Taylor said. “Even if you take the statistics as written, we have a downward trend of the crime rate in Crestview.”
Still, critics such as Councilman Tom Gordon, a candidate in the March mayoral election, said the data, even if raw, could make families and businesses reconsider relocating to Crestview.
“Crestview had 180 violent crimes in 2013,” Gordon said. “Look at Fort Walton, Niceville, Shalimar and Valparaiso and they had a combined count of 80.
“So although their combined population is 75 percent bigger than Crestview, the crime rate of all four of those cities is less than half.”
With the police force at nearly full strength again and morale high, the numbers continue to improve, Taylor said.
“Crestview is a safe community to live in," he said. "You’re going to find different ratings on different sites. The sky is not falling. It’s a great place to live and a great place to raise your kids.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Mayor: FBI crime report 'doesn't tell the whole story'