Which are N.J.'s 10 most dangerous small towns?
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Seven of the 10 most dangerous small towns in the Garden State are in South Jersey, according to a report on several local Patch sites.
Salem, a city of slightly more than 5,000 people in Salem County, topped the list. While there were no homicides there in 2011, police recorded three rapes, 22 robberies and 39 aggravated assaults. Lindenwold, Camden County was second while Pemberton Borough in Burlington finished third on Patch's list.
Patch compiled the list by examining the violent crime rates of New Jerseymunicipalities with fewer than 20,000 people. It excluded resort towns such as Seaside Heights from its rankings. The data Patch used is from 2011, the last year complete information on violent crime is available from the StatePolice.
Atlantic, Camden, and Salem counties each had two towns in the top 10. North Jersey was represented by Victory Gardens in Morris County (sixth) and South Hackensack in Bergen, which ranked ninth.
The lone Central Jerseymunicipality mentioned by Patch was Keansburg inMonmouth County. Though it was ranked eighth, crime in the borough has plummeted in the past two years. Violent crime fell 38 percent in 2012 and is down another 50 percent this year, the report said.
Read the full report here.
RELATED COVERAGE
• Crime rates down in majority of Gloucester County towns, despite perceptions
