Dylan Cummings
Criminal Justice Intro
Prof. Partee
October 23, 2014

Crime Rate From Big Cities Compared to Small Towns

What is the difference in crime throughout big cities compared to small towns? Many people would ask back is that even a question. I have done some research on that question, so here is what I have found. First I would reviewed the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports. The crime reports are based on the reporting yearly. Crimes in big cities compared to crimes in small towns are all the same, except for the fact that in cities such as Philadelphia and New York City they happen more often, which gives them a higher crime rate. For example, in a 20 square mile town there are murders just like a 40 square mile city with 100,000 more people. It is just that they happen way more often in the more populated places. There are so many reasons to why the crime rate is increased in big cities compared to small towns, such as, population per square miles, economy, and drug use.
First, Pennsville, New Jersey is my hometown. The population is about 14,000 people and twenty-eight square miles. My father who is the Police Chief in Pennsville has explained to me that in the last five years the crime rate in my hometown has risen three times its normal rate. He believes that this is all from the economy and drug use. For example, he says, “So many residents have lost their jobs and have become addicted to some type of narcotic, either heroin or prescription medication. These people are the individuals that are committing the crimes to obtain money to purchase drugs for their dependency.” In my fathers progress to making the crime rate decrease in Pennsville he has changed the image of the town in such a short period of time. He believes, “that if the patrol officers are making numerous drug arrests and fighting the war on drugs each and everyday. I feel that if my department continues to make the drug arrests we can send a message that if you sell drugs in Pennsville you will be arrested.” A big drug bust that just happened this week is one of the biggest in County history. The department was given information about a delivery at a spot on the main road in Pennsville. Authorities moved in on the 2008 Freightliner tractor-trailer in a parking lot. They were able to find 6 kilos of methamphetamines with a value of $169,000. Like I said before, things like this happen more often in big cities unlike towns like Pennsville, that is why the crime rate is as high as it is in cities like NYC. Lastly, he started a Facebook page that shows the subjects who are arrested along with their crime. It gives the people a look at what is going on in the town and they seem to love it by the way my father talks about it. Furthermore, other small towns like, Salem, NJ has the highest small city/town crime rate in the state of New Jersey. Statistics on Salem compared to the rest of the U.S are mind blowing. For example, one statistic that really blows my mind is the violent crime rate in Salem. The average crime rate in the United States is 214.0, but in Salem the average crime rate is doubled at 516.9. There are many reasons for this but the biggest reason is because of the economy and drug use. That goes along the lines with what my father said about Pennsville. Pennsville is not nearly as bad as Salem, which is the neighboring town of Pennsville. Salem became the way it is today because of all the jobs people are losing. Here are a few statistics about Salem so that it’s easy to be compared to big cities. 6 murders, 4 rapes, 17 robberies, 28 assaults, 78 burglaries, 180 thefts, 6 auto thefts, and 1 arson. Next, comparing a big city like New York to a small town like Pennsville or Salem is not much different between crimes. The reason for higher crime rate in cities like New York is because of how often they occur. For example, there are more things to steal in a city. Second, it is a lot