The recent ADT article which listed Crossville as the States most dangerous city used data collected by the FBI in 2012 on violent and property crimes to create its ranking.  Crossville News First did some research and found the analysis may be somewhat misleading.   These are the same statistics that gave Tennessee the dubious distinction of having the worst violent crime rate in the country. But these rankings stand on shaky foundations; the FBI even warns people to avoid drawing comparisons between cities and states based on these statistics.

“They provide no insight into the many variables that mold the crime in a particular town, city, county, state region, or other jurisdiction,” the FBI writes on its website. “Consequently, these rankings lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting cities and counties, along with their residents.”

The FBI says this data can make “no meaningful comparisons” without examining all the variables that affect crime in a town, city, county or state.  Some feel the ADT publication was prepared mainly to incite fear in local residents of the listed cities and prompt them to buy their home security systems.