In case some people think I needlessly pick on Police Chief Leonard Burgess for the high crime in North Miami, check out the hot-off-the-presses March issue of the Biscayne Times.

Just last week in my blog, Spring Cleaning in North Miami, I reported that North Miami is the second most dangerous city in the county.

By sheer coincidence, reporter Eric Bojnansky’s article By the Numbers breaks down the FBI’s most recent crime statistics for the “Biscayne corridor,” including North Miami’s.

Bojanansky wrote, “North Miami is the city reporting the second-highest reported crime rate in the Biscayne Corridor for 2014.  It reported 5500.19 crimes citywide per 100,000.”

Hmmm.

I wonder if Chief Lenny is planning to rev up his spin machine and dispatch his damage control agents in an attempt to stifle the reporter the same way he tried to do to me last year.

Good luck with that, Chiefy.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to check out the FBI’s Crime Statistics for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

After studying the numbers, I chose a not-so-random sampling of several South Florida cities, and then compared their violent (non-property) crime statistics for the years 2013 and 2014.

You may wonder why I choose these cities in particular.  I’ll explain.

Obviously Aventura is on the list because Chief Lenny swears up and down that “the Crime Index Rating rating for NM is the same as Aventura.”

Let’s take a closer look at that claim.

In 2013,  North Miami’s population was less than twice that of Aventura’s, yet its violent crime rate was nearly ten times higher!

According to a study based on these FBI crime stats by Valuepenguin.com, Aventura was ranked 106 and North Miami was ranked 186 out of 224 of the safest cities in Florida.  (No surprise, Opa-locka was ranked last.)

In 2014, when Lenny was appointed as Chief, there were 57 more violent crimes in North Miami than the year before.  Just saying.

I included Bay Harbor Islands for informational purposes only because the Biscayne Times article notes that it has the “lowest crime rate on the Biscayne Corridor.”

Biscayne Park was also mentioned by the article as having the “second-lowest crime rate of 2014.”  But I also included this village on my list because Biscayne Park is literally right next door to North Miami.  In fact, the municipality with the “second lowest crime rate” shares it’s entire northern border with the second most dangerous city in Miami-Dade County.

How did that happen?  I guess you’ll have to ask Chief Lenny.

I included the Town of Davie because (1) I live here, and (2) although it has nearly three times the population of North Miami, Davie has less than half the number of the violent crimes.

Just saying.

Delray Beach is on my list because although its population is nearly identical to North Miami’s, it’s crime rate is 25% lower.

The City of Miami is on the list because, even though it’s the only municipality with a higher crime rate than North Miami, it’s not all that much higher in terms of ratio.

In 2014, Miami had one violent crime per 94 residents, while North Miami had one violent crime per 106 residents.  With a differential of one violent crime per 12 residents, NM is not far behind.

The City of Miami Gardens made my list because, other than Opa-locka, this city has the reputation for having a horrific crime rate.  Surprisingly, although the population of Miami Gardens is nearly twice that of North Miami’s, in 2014 it reported only 159 more violent crimes more than North Miami.  This works out to one violent crime for every 152 residents as compared to North Miami’s 1 in 106, or a differential of 46.

I included North Miami Beach because, like Biscayne Park, this city abuts North Miami.  While one in 106 North Miami residents were victims of violent crimes in 2014, North Miami Beach only reported one violent crime per 118 residents, for a differential of 12.

I also included the City of Miramar for a couple of reasons, including its infamy for the disproportionate number of carpetbaggers seeking public office in North Miami.  For the sake of crime stat comparisons, however, Miramar has more than double North Miami’s population, yet reported only one violent crime for every 317 residents.  Its residents are nearly three times safer than North Miami’s.

With a population of 164,372 – over 100,000 more residents than North Miami – the City of Pembroke Pines reported less than half of the number of violent crimes in 2014.  This amounts to approximately one violent crime per 593 residents, making Pembroke Pines five times safer than North Miami.

And, finally, I only included the City of Weston because, like Delray Beach, it’s population is slightly larger than North Miami’s, but it’s violent crime rate is comparatively non-existent.  With only one violent crime per 1,536 residents, there is no doubt that Weston is one of the safest cities in South Florida.  It leaves North Miami in the dust.

Team Lenny Head Cheerleader/City Clerk Michael Etienne will tell you that the disparity between the crime rates of all these cities and North Miami’s is due to his “taking average income of the residents into account and other socio-economic stats.”

That rationale may be somewhat true when comparing North Miami to some of the wealthier cities such as Bay Harbor Islands and Weston.

But compared to cities with similar “socio-economic” stats, such as Miami Gardens, Miramar and North Miami Beach, there is absolutely no justification for the the much higher crime rate in North Miami.

Even if you account for downgraded crimes and bogus numbers.

The only rational explanation is that, as the Police Chief of the sixth largest municipality in Miami-Dade County, Chief Lenny has no clue what he’s doing.

The North Miami Police Department is sorely in need of new leadership.

North Miami residents deserve better.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”