According to FBI statistics, the crime rate in Fort Pierce is falling.

FORT PIERCE, Florida — Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson called the city safe On Friday.

It happens after Mass shooting on Monday at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event that killed a 29-year-old mother and injured seven others.

Contact 5 looked into the city’s crime statistics to verify the mayor’s statement.

The most recent data shows that violent crime is higher in Fort Pierce than most other cities in Florida, but the same numbers show that the overall crime rate is declining. Some residents said that after the tragedy on Monday, they find it hard to believe in time.

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Daseri Glanton works at a store about half a mile south of the park where the shooting took place.

When she heard Hudson call the city safe, Glanton said, “I don’t think so.”

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So who’s right?

The FBI’s 2019 unified crime statistics show that Fort Pierce’s crime rate is falling. But when it comes to violent crime, Fort Pierce’s rate is 46% higher than the national and Florida averages.

Overall, crime in Fort Pierce is 36% higher than the Florida average and 38% higher than the US average.

“It’s like cowboys and Indians here,” Glanton said.

On Friday, there were older men playing lottery tickets outside Glanton’s store. One man promised to move to a safer part of the city if he was successful.

As for Glanton, whose teenage sons survived gunshot wounds in separate incidents, she doesn’t see where the crime rate is falling in this part of town.

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“I don’t know where it’s safe,” Glanton said. “I don’t even know where to look because there is so much going on here in Fort Pierce. This is scary”.

Ann Montesano Real Estate is located in downtown Fort Pierce. She calls this area vibrant, vibrant and lively, where no one is worried about their safety.

“If they didn’t feel safe here, they wouldn’t come here,” Montesano said.

Getting up-to-date information on crime in Fort Pierce was not easy, because the city police department and all other law enforcement agencies in Florida did not submit annual statistics to the FBI for their reports.

However, comprehensive reports from the last decade in this city show that the overall crime rate is falling, but with a higher rate of violent crime than most other communities in Florida.