Thats a pretty usefull site for comparing crime in cities. Although I wouold like a British version or even an international one to compare NY to Birmingham or something.

The reason why this tool is usefull is because it isn't just saying which has the highest crime. It's useing a crime rate. I compared New York to Washington and although New York has a more crime it is unfair to say New York is worse. Because the population sizes differ. Obviously there is going to be more crime where there is a higher population. From this the crime rate is determined but a % for every 100,000 people.

I hope i've made sense.