Buffalo: 10th dangerous city in America

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - When it comes to crime, the Queen City is among some of the most volatile urban areas in the United States, according to Forbes.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda has a message for people living in and visiting the City of Good Neighbors:

"I want them to know that Buffalo is a safe city. They should come down, enjoy themselves, and feel safe," he assured.

On Forbes Magazine's list of America's most dangerous cities, Buffalo ranked 10th. Detroit was first.

MORE | See the full list from Forbes here

"The perception is not good," Derenda acknowledged. "But the reality is violence in the City of Buffalo is down."

The city's top cop says last year, homicides were at a 10-year low, and he points to a 17 percent drop in violent crime since 2005.

Common Council President Richard Fontana said, "I have no idea why Chicago's not in the top 10 with over 400 murders. But they must be using some statistics that really don't reflect the reality on the street."

Forbes ranked U.S. cities with a population over 200,000 according to their violent crime rate. Though top officials question the statistic, resident Pamela Miszko says she's not surprised by Buffalo's ranking.

"There's a lot of crime around here, and instead of giving tickets to people, go where the crime is," Miszko said.

And Melinda Morlock thinks patrols could be better utilized.

"They're not where they should be," she contends. "Where I think, and I come down. I used to come down a lot more. But they're not where the dangerous hot spots are."

But Murray Holman, Executive Director of the Stop the Violence Coalition, doesn't think high ranking reflects the reality on the streets.

"I don't see it. I don't see the numbers like that. We do tremendous work in the city. For us to be number 10, they got to be getting their numbers wrong some kind of way," Holman said.