By KOAA News 5 Lena Howland
PUEBLO, CO – A new article going viral in our area names Pueblo the most dangerous city in the state.
The ranking comes from an article on the website roadsnacks.net which quoted FBI data from the past three years.
Data, the FBI itself says should not be taken at face value and that much more needs to be taken into account.
Pueblo Police also reject the ranking.
“Flabbergasted, really, I don’t… It’s surprising to me,” Mark Mattarocci, a Pueblo native said.
“No, I just don’t see that,” Cheryl Jones, a Pueblo native said.
Cheryl Jones has lived in Pueblo for most of her life.
“I just found it incredibly hard to believe that we’re number one, I just don’t believe that,” Jones said.
And she says, there’s no merit behind the roadsnacks.net article which ranks Pueblo as the most dangerous city in Colorado.
“I don’t think it’s the most dangerous but I think it’s gotten a lot more dangerous in the last few years,” Jimmy Wilson, a Pueblo native said.
Safety concerns, not on the radar.
“In my neighborhood, I feel pretty safe,” Wilson said.
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 27 years and bottom line, I’ve not seen an issue on any of that level,” Jones said.
And this, isn’t the first time Pueblo has made a top ten list.
It’s as easy as typing Pueblo crime into your search engine and one of the first things you’ll find is the top ten most dangerous cities in Colorado.
“I don’t like Pueblo to have a reputation as the highest crime rate in Colorado,” Kathryn Luzardo, a Pueblo commuter said.
“I wonder what their motives are to be writing that about Pueblo, if there’s an advantage that they’re getting to be writing that article,” Mattarocci said.
Those in disagreement with the ranking say they’ll continue to focus on the perks of Pueblo instead.
“There’s a lot of good things going on in my city here and those are the things I’m focused on,” he said.
Pueblo Police say articles like these come out at least once a month.
It’s an ongoing PR battle for the city but they say, the majority of the articles poorly ranking Pueblo are coming from alarm companies, encouraging folks to buy new security systems.
For a link to the FBI’s official warning against rankings click here.
