(WSBT) The latest FBI crime numbers show South Bend had more crimes than Gary last year in several categories.

Police say it doesn’t necessarily mean the city is more dangerous than Gary.

WSBT asked people on the street which city they think would have more crime and overwhelmingly the answer was Gary.

“I would assume Gary just by reputation,” said Brice Martin.

According to the FBI’s preliminary crime statistics for 2006, Gary’s population was 99,369 and South Bend’s was 105,959.

Gary had more than three times as many murders as South Bend and almost double the number of motor vehicle thefts.

However, the rest of the numbers show South Bend ahead.

“Wow, really? That surprises me, it really does,” commented Margaret McAllister.

South Bend had about 100 more cases of violent crime compared to Gary. It also had more forcible rapes and aggravated assaults.

South Bend had almost 2,000 more property crimes, more than 100 more burglaries, and more than 2,000 more larceny thefts.

“It really surprises me. If we pull more crime than Gary, there's something wrong with South Bend,” exclaimed Marvin Ingram.

But police say 'not so fast.'

“I don't necessarily think it's true because some of these statistics are not making sense to us,” said South Bend Police Capt. Phil Trent.

Trent says there's no law mandating how the numbers are collected and what they include.

He also says there should be a direct relation between categories like murder and aggravated assault. However, with the current numbers, Gary has more murders but not more aggravated assaults.

“So when we see this, we're not accusing another jurisdiction of lying or fudging their numbers, we're just accusing the jurisdiction of collecting data differently than South Bend does, which does not allow you to make an apples to apples comparison anymore,” Trent said.

Trent says the department does recognize the city has a problem with burglaries and thefts — those numbers both increased from the year before.

The Gary Police Department says it stands by its numbers. Police said they come from a Crime Analysis Unit, and the police officers who report them, have been trained to do so.

Read the FBI Preliminary Crime Report at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/06prelim/t4il_mo.htm