Getting the Numbers Down
Jan 26th, 2008 | By Michel Marizco | Category: Chismes, General News, Organized Crime, Politics
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THE BORDER REPORT
I was reading through my feeds this morning and came across an El Universal story with some incredible numbers. The state of Sinaloa had 746 reported murders in 2007, including 25 police officers. Keep in mind that there's only a little more than 2.5 million in the state. That pushes their murder rate somewhere to about 29.3 (a little lower, I suppose, since I'm using 2000 census numbers). I love Sinaloa, it's a beautiful, violent, wild place. So what's the comparable U.S. state with a murder rate like Sinaloa's, I wondered. Here's some answers from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report (2006). New Jersey, with 8.7 million had 428 reported murders, murder rate: 4.9. Louisiana, 4.3 million, 530 murders, 12.4. Closer but still off by more than half. And then I found it: Washington D.C., 581,530 people, 169 murders, murder rate: 29.1. So there you go. Mexico's deadliest state has a murder rate equal to our nation's capital. Nothing to brag about for either country but if I had to choose, I'd rather live in Sinaloa. Oh, and before I forget, that child they were looking for in Cochise County was found. I'm, what, about 24 hours behind with that? Been on the road a lot the past few days. Next time, you'll get a refund, I swear. Have a great weekend.-- Michel Marizco
