Casper and Douglas Named Murder Capitals of Wyoming

There's a new study that has called out Casper and Douglas as "murder capitals" in Wyoming, but don't sweat it. Once you get past the title, we've been called out for really stupid reasons.

Before I get into the details, I can't emphasize enough how thin the reasoning is for why our towns have made this list. It's from super-snarky website Roadsnacks. It's based on FBI crime data and rates the cities based on how many murders per 100,000 people. That part of this study is key.

Even though I feel like "murder capital" is wildly unfair and not appropriate for our cities, Casper is rated as #3 on this list up from #6 last year while Douglas jumps to #4 from #20.

Here's why this list is so ridiculous to me. Want to know how many murders were counted in Douglas? A grand total of one. Let me say that any murder is one too many but for the sake of statistics this just shows you how one simple metric can cause a horrific ranking on an internet list. Casper had two new murders that caused the rise up the bad list. When you factor in that you can count the list of murders in Wyoming with your fingers and toes it makes lists like this sound sensational when it's really a big yawn for those of us that live here.

My family has never felt unsafe during our years in Casper and Wyoming in general and this list won't change that. Not even close.