Stark County Watchdog
By: Adam Bialosky
Stark County crime rates
When someone thinks of crime they usually associate it with big cities. This isn’t always the case but before we get into specifics, we must know what crime is. “Crime is the category of behavior to which criminal justice is a response” (Henry). Stark County is 581 square miles with a population of 375,432 people. It also has two very high crime areas, one that’s nationally ranked as a place with the worst crime.
Stark County is the 7th largest county in Ohio. It’s made up of 6 cities, 13 villages, and 17 townships. Most people have heard of it because two of its cities had a role in early football development which is why the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton. Not many people know that two of Stark Counties’ major cities have high crime rates. Alliance and Canton are two very high crime areas. Most of the crimes committed in both cities are property crimes with violent crimes coming behind that.
A study was done across the nation by a website called the Neighborhood scout. They took all cities in America with 25,000 people or more, used data of all the violent crime that was reported and came up with an accurate representation of total crime within a city. Canton made the list at number 90, being safer than only 3% of the cities in the US. There was a study on small city crime done by Randy Nelson and it had a list of small cities between 50,000 and 75,000 residence. He collected data from the FBI crime report and created a list from it. On this list Canton received a ranking of second place. The chance of someone being a victim of a violent crime in Canton is 1 in 103 while your chance of being a victim of a property crime is 1 in 17. A property crime is burglary, theft, or motor vehicle theft.
Another study was done on the city of Alliance by the Neighborhood watch. In this study it was noted, “Alliance has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes.” According to the statistics 92% of communities have lower crime rate than Alliance. You have a 1 in 268 chance of being of victim of a violent crime and a 1 in 23 chance of being a victim in a property crime.
Living conditions
Looking at all these statistics makes you wonder why these areas have so much crime. While looking deeper into information of the two cities, data showed both cities were very similar with cost of living, employment, and housing. The cost of living for both areas was below the national level and the Ohio level. It is hard to deny the fact that cheaper cost of living, high unemployment and cheap housing have a correlation to the level of crime committed in these areas. A study on the relationship between public housing policy, poverty, and crime was done, it said “ Our results show that higher concentrations of poverty are associated with more crime. They also suggest that programs or incentives that result in greater integration of poor and nonpoor households may reduce violent crime without increasing property crime.” (Hartley)
With all these crimes committed it makes you wonder what the police are going to do it fight these crime rates. According to Areavibe Inc. Alliance has 55 police officers, which means 2.5 per every 1000 residence while Canton has 163 officers with 2.2 per every 1000 residence. Click here to learn what Canton is doing to cut down on crime in high crime areas within the city.
Click here to explore a map of Stark County's Police Departments, Crime rates, and Income levels
The infographic below shows Stark County and their two highest crime areas. It then shoes how they compare to the top 5 crime areas in ohio and then how they both compare to the top 5 crime areas and all 50 states.
