Town of Barnstable Placed on Most Dangerous Cities List

NeighborhoodScout ranked Barnstable 93rd on the Top 100 Most Dangerous U.S. Cities list for 2017

The Massachusetts town of Barnstable has been placed on a list of one of the most dangerous places to live.

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.

Resident Ben Elliott told NBC Boston he found the recent ranking hard to believe.

"Having lived here for quite a while, I haven't experienced any crime," he said.

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.

Barnstable Police Sergeant Sean Sweeney said that means bigger cities could have more crime and still be considered "less dangerous."

"Chicago isn't even on there. I certainly feel a lot safer in the town of Barnstable than I do in Chicago," Sweeney said.

Sweeney said this may be a case of the department over reporting crimes to the FBI.

"Some departments, if you have five cars rifled through, they might put it as one incident. We might put it as 10," he said.

Other Massachusetts listed on the NeighborhoodScout list include Fall River, Chelsea and Brockton.

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