Mark Caserta is an opinion columnist and managing editor for Free State Patriot
February 18, 2019
Is Huntington, West Virginia one of the most dangerous cities in the nation?
You decide. But the facts are undeniable.
Per Neighborhood Scout, an online service which does a deep-dive analysis into the crime rates in cities across the nation, our fair city is certainly not providing any incentive for families to stay or relocate to our area.
Neighborhood Scout serves numerous entities which impact the growth and prosperity of a city, such as investors, lenders, brokers/agents and property managers, by providing them with the most current crime index information available utilizing analytical builds from “Location, Inc”.
This information, which was released from the FBI in September, 2018 (latest available), is troubling, to say the least.
The website and the corresponding information may be viewed at: https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wv/huntington/crime
On a Crime Data scale, with “100” being the score of the safest cities in the U.S., Huntington is at a “3”!
All things being equal, this means that Huntington is only safer than 3% of all U.S. cities!
Additionally, the data reported shows, on average, our city incurs nearly 10 violent crimes per 1000 residents annually and more than 50 property crimes per 1000 each year.
For comparison, the state of West Virginia has just over 3.5 violent crimes per 1000 residents. Our city nearly “triples” even that of our entire state!
Your chances of being a victim of a violent crime in Huntington are 1 in 102, versus 1 in 285 on a state level. It’s worth noting, the website has Huntington’s current population at 47, 079. I believe it’s considerably lower than that, which would make the math even worse!
Your chances of being the victim of a property crime in Huntington are not any more promising. You stand a 1 in 20 chance of being on the receiving end of a property crime in our city as compared to 1 in 50 for the state of WV.
Certainly, sounds like a good case for reducing the level of police and fire protection in Huntington – doesn’t it?
Some of the safer neighborhoods in the Huntington area include:
- Lesage, Martha / Hodges
- Buffalo Creek / Shoals
- Pea Ridge
- Goodwill Rd / Spring Valley Drive
- Melissa / West Pea Ridge
- Locust Terrace / Locust Drive
- 16th St. Road / Washington Blvd
- Harveytown
- Westmoreland.
Folks, you’re not going to hear this from our local city leaders or even our local media, who clearly have the responsibility to protect our citizens by informing and preparing them with this information.
It’s truly the epitome of political apathy toward our citizens and their well-being.
Amid this peril, it’s disconcerting that we have city leaders exhibiting such a dereliction of duty by allowing our city to not only operate with an understaffed and overworked police force, but to allow the decay of our infrastructure to continue.
There are those who simply don’t think it’s healthy to be transparent with this information.
But how can any problem be addressed without first, acknowledging it?
Our city is desperate for leadership who will stand up against the deep state cowering in the shadows, content to propagate their progressive agenda of inclusiveness and sanctuary ideology, while Huntington dies a slow death.
The satellite view is this. Within these United States, among the 35,000 cities recognized by U.S. Geological Survey, lies the city of Huntington, WV. A city, once widely recognized for being a great town to work and raise a family, now declining in population and on the verge of destitution.
We find ourselves riddled with drugs, crime and questionable leadership with no apparent plan to return business and manufacturing to our area.
What will it take to make Huntington great again? Is it even possible?
Yes. But it will require a lot savvier business acumen and a lot less self-centeredness.
And it will be up to the voters to find that person.
Yes, we need a hero.
Free State Patriot 
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