The police chief in the Massachusetts town of Barnstable says a coding error is to blame for the town being placed on a list of one of the most dangerous places to live.
According to the Cape Cod Times, Paul MacDonald blamed himself at a Town Council meeting Thursday.
According to data released last week by NeighborhoodScout, Barnstable ranks 93rd on the Top 100 Most Dangerous U.S. Cities list for 2017. The ranking puts the town one spot below Cincinnati, Ohio.
Barnstable police said they think they figured out how they landed on the list. The Worcester-based NeighborhoodScout tallied up the number of crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 full-time residents, also known as a crime rate.
MacDonald said the number of aggravated assaults reported for 2015 was 361, when in reality it was 178.
He said the department had mislabeled domestic violence incidents, causing the extreme spike.
MacDonald said the FBI’s report will not be changed to reflect the new data.
