SAGINAW, MI — In 2012, residents of at least five Michigan cities had 50-to-1 odds or better of citizens becoming victims of violent crime, according to data released this week.

The Saginaw News compiled a map of data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigations that shows the rate of violent crime in 2012 across reporting police agencies.

Flint, Saginaw and Detroit were listed among the highest per capita violent crime rates in the country.

Using FBI crime data and population estimates, in 2012, citizens had varying odds of becoming crime victims. Here's a look:

Click on the map markers in each reporting Michigan city and town to view information about violent crime in each location. Markers are color coded according to the map legend.

Statistical chance of being a victim of violence (map legend).

The map shows the volume of violent crime including murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, as reported by city and town law enforcement agencies that contributed data to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program.

"Readers should take into consideration relevant factors in addition to an area’s crime statistics when making any valid comparisons of crime among different locales," the FBI warns in its data declaration accompanying the figures.

The chance of being a victim of violence is calculated by dividing the population by the number of violent crimes.

Saginaw Mayor Greg Branch has questioned the practice of comparing crime data from other cities to gauge Saginaw's progress.

"What I'm more worried about is what we're doing day-to-day to fix things," Branch said. "It's not a horse race."

Michigan State Police Lt. Brian Cole said residents can practice common sense to reduce their chances of becoming a crime victim.

"Just being aware of your surroundings, and if you know you're going to an area that has maybe had some criminal activity in the past, you may not want to go alone," Cole said. "Maybe think about the time of the day you're going to those types of areas."

He said residents should watch out for suspicious activity in their neighborhood and make reports to police if they see anything out of the ordinary.

The FBI stats "don't give a true depiction of what's going on in Saginaw," Saginaw Police Department Detective Sgt. Reggie Williams said.

"It's not as violent as those reports make it seem," Williams said. "There are a lot of bright spots, like downtown Saginaw."

He noted recent investments in the area like the construction of the First Merit Bank Events Park that indicate the area is safe.

"I don't buy into the FBI stats," he said.

The analysis does not account for factors that could make some residents more likely to be crime victims than others.

Williams agreed with Cole that using common sense can be a factor to reduce the chances of being a victim.

Methodology

The data that the FBI used to compile the table was from all Michigan city and town law enforcement agencies submitting 12 months of complete offense data for 2012, according to the FBI.

For population estimates, t

he FBI calculated 2012 state growth rates using the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 and 2012 provisional state/national population estimates. The FBI then estimated population figures for city and county jurisdictions by applying the 2012 state growth rate to the updated 2011 U.S. Census Bureau data.