East Bay Cities Among the Most Dangerous in the Nation

Several cities in the East Bay are among the most dangerous in the nation, according to a crime ranking survey released Monday.

The annual survey by CQ Press, which uses FBI crime data in its studies, ranked Oakland as the fifth most dangerous city and Richmond sixth. Oakland's No. 5 ranking is an improvement over last year, when it ranked third.

Union City did not make the rankings, which lists 400 high-crime commnities nationwide, but our neighbors did. (See attached file for the complete list.)

Hayward ranked 125, with Fremont at 315. 

CQ Press said its crime rate rankings are based on six categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft.

Some officials argue that the figures may create an inaccurate depiction of the cities listed, and that multiple variables should be taken into account.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors said in a statement Monday that the list is "a premeditated statistical mugging of America's cities."

"These rankings present a gross misuse of FBI data," said Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "Everyone with the slightest knowledge of this issue knows the rankings are not credible, but the publication persists with them, presumably because rankings are popular and sell books."

The Conference of Mayors said the rankings "provide no insight into the many variables that mold the crime in a particular town, city, county, state, region or other jurisdiction."

It also said the list isn't an accurate predictor of a person's crime risk because it doesn't take into consideration factors such as age, lifestyle and the neighborhood where a person lives. 

Other Bay Area cities also made the list. Vallejo was 33, Antioch was 91, Berkeley was 111, San Francisco was 130 and San Jose was 237. 

Bay City News contributed to this report.