City officials respond to Uniontown called second most dangerous city in the state
City officials said a widely circulated article calling Uniontown the second most dangerous city in Pennsylvania was misleading.
The article, published by “Only In Your State,” used FBI crime data from 2018 to compare Pennsylvania cities.
That year, Uniontown had 136 violent crimes reported, including one murder, two rapes, 22 robberies and 111 aggravated assaults, plus 455 property crimes including 72 burglaries, 369 thefts, 14 motor vehicle thefts and 18 arsons. Officials said comparing data to cities with much larger populations produces skewed results. Philadelphia, which has a population more than 162 times that of Uniontown, ranked 10th with 14,420 violent crimes, including 1,095 rapes and 351 murders.
“When you look at crime per capita, our numbers are going to look worse because of our small population,” said Uniontown City Police Lt. Tom Kolencik. “We’re not disputing the results. We’re just questioning the comparison of cities with much larger populations than ours.”
Mayor Bill Gerke said he does not believe Uniontown is the second most dangerous city in the state, saying common sense would say otherwise.
“It’s not to say that Uniontown isn’t aware of problems in the city. We want to do everything we can to make the city safer,” he said.
Violent crimes spiked throughout Fayette County with 14 homicides in 2018, the year the data was compiled. One of those occurred in Uniontown. Tyree “Bricc” Smith, 24, of Penn Hills shot Richard A. Hinton, 28, of Uniontown in a Dunlap Street home May 22. Smith was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to five to 10 years in prison. In 2019, the homicide rate in Fayette County dropped to 0.
Kolencik also pointed out that minor crimes can skew the data. Juveniles throwing rocks at cars and houses would be counted as a property crime each time police receive a report. Retail thefts, a grill stolen from a porch, or loose change stolen from an unlocked car would each count as thefts.
“People are stealing to support addiction,” he said. “Those are crimes of opportunity.”
He added Uniontown has schools, parking garages and a business district within the city limits, all which support outlying, rural areas and multiply the daytime population. The city has a population of less than 10,000, but about 30,000 people are in Uniontown during the day. Uniontown also has six neighborhoods. Gerke said he plans to improve the city through blight enforcement.
“We’re confident in our ability to fight crime,” Kolencik said. “This isn’t a label we’re proud of or plan on keeping.”