Pocatello listed as third most dangerous city in Idaho – most disagree

Yet another new list has been circulating social media sites this past week, claiming Pocatello is the third most dangerous city in the Gem State.

List: https://www.roadsnacks.net/most-dangerous-cities-in-idaho/

The list claims there are 362 violent crimes and 3,002 property crimes per 100,000 people.

This comes just three months after the real estate site FindTheHome ranked Pocatello as the eleventh most dangerous city in the United States.

Although those sites pulled their data from the annual FBI report, most people are saying these claims are ridiculous.

Pocatello Police Chief Scott Marchand agreed, saying these numbers don’t accurately depict the safety of the community.

“First of all, we don’t even have 100,000 people here in Pocatello,” Marchand said. “So, if you look at our population at about 55,000, it would actually be 145, not 300.”

He also said the numbers recorded by the FBI comes from what officers report.

“For example, we’ve had robberies that have been reported to Pocatello police, we spend many days investigating them and some end up being a false report, but that still counts as a robbery,” Marchand added.

He said with the number of crimes reported, this just means police are out in the streets in full force, but now with a 48% clearance rate, which is up from previous years.

“We’re clearing almost 50% of the crime that occurs in this town, and that’s from petty theft to murder,” he said.

He said this is between 20 and 30 percent higher than most larger cities across the nation.