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Ringgold one of ‘Top 10 Most Dangerous Small Towns in America’

In 2014, Catoosa County Sheriff's deputies responded to the scene at 227 Smoke-tree Circle just outside Ringgold city limits. A woman who faked her own pregnancy had shot and killed a mother of two because she wanted the baby, Sheriff Gary Sisk said at the time.
In 2014, Catoosa County Sheriff's deputies responded to the scene at 227 Smoke-tree Circle just outside Ringgold city limits. A woman who faked her own pregnancy had shot and killed a mother of two because she wanted the baby, Sheriff Gary Sisk said at the time. In 2014, Catoosa County Sheriff's deputies responded to the scene at 227 Smoke-tree Circle just outside Ringgold city limits. A woman who faked her own pregnancy had shot and killed a mother of two because she wanted the baby, Sheriff Gary Sisk said at the time.

By Katie Ward 3 min read

photo Nick Millwood

By the numbers

Population: 3,6892012 | 2013 | 2014Violent crimes: 12 | 7 | 54Murders: 0 | 0 | 0Forcible rapes: 0 | 1 | 0Robberies: 0 | 2 | 2Aggravated assaults: 12 | 4 | 52Property crimes: 186 | 190 | 516Burglaries: 40 | 16 | 37Larceny/thefts: 139 | 166 | 455Motor vehicle thefts: 7 | 8 | 24Arsons: 0 | 0 | 0Source: roadsnacks.net; FBI’s UCR

Another report by roadsnacks.net has landed Ringgold on a top 10 list – of the most dangerous small towns in America.

To arrive at its findings, the website looked at the number of property crimes and violent crimes per capita as reported by the FBI’s 2014 Uniform Crime Report for 6,900 cities with populations under 50,000.

Ringgold ranked ninth overall, coming in 58th for the highest violent crime ratings and 11th for property crime. According to the website, someone in Ringgold has a one-in-six chance of being the victim of some type of crime within the small town’s city limits each year.

“It’s unbiased data,” said Nick James, who co-founded the Durham, N.C.-based website. “We push the envelope with the rankings. We started out with happy places to visit, but people like to read about this stuff instead.”

Looking at UCR reports, there was a dramatic rise in violent crimes, property crimes and larceny/thefts from 2013 to 2014 in the city of Ringgold.

“If it’s as bad as numbers indicate, it’s eye-opening,” James said. “We sometimes get thank you letters.”

Ringgold Police Chief Dan Bilbrey said the report has been brought to his attention and he plans to address the City Council.

“I would say the biggest reference is property crimes,” said Bilbrey. “There are some issues with property crimes. We have an interstate and three state routes [run through Ringgold] that are factors in it.”

Mayor Nick Millwood agreed.

“We recently incorporated and annexed by Truck City and annexed part of the interstate,” he said. “We saw a jump in crime reports from that annexation. I added an item on the agenda to make the public aware it’s [crime] become an issue. People are finding that things are getting stolen out of cars.”

However, Millwood said he feels safe in the city and thinks most people do too.

“These opportunistic thefts are on the rise,” said Millwood. “People take advantage of unlocked car doors and unlocked home doors. It’s a persistent issue that should be addressed. I want to put this out there on people’s minds and address it.”

According to Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk, the county overall has seen a decrease in property crimes, but an increase in crimes against a person. Sisk’s department backs up the Ringgold Police Department on calls in addition to providing school resource officers for all the middle school and high schools in the county.

“Unfortunately it’s the tone of our society,” Sisk said, referring to the rise in crimes against a person. “People don’t have the respect for one another that they used to. Theft by taking in the county is higher, but burglaries are decreasing in the county.”

Local attorney McCracken Poston, who posted the roadsnacks.net story on his Facebook page, said his biggest takeaway was that statistics can be used in a number of ways to support almost any side in an argument.

“I don’t blame the city for being concerned. It really is a bad mark if it’s true or not,” he said. “If the study is valid, we have to take a good look at our situation.”