According to statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its Crime in the United States report, Selma is one of top 10 cities in the state of Alabama for crime.

But Selma Police Chief John Brock said numbers don’t always tell the story of a community when it comes to crime, whether the numbers are good or bad.

“It is hard to compare one city to another city. A lot of different things come in to play,” Brock said in response to the numbers. “There are different lifestyles, different communities.”

The data is collected through the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. UCR collects data on violent crime and property crime, among others.

According to the FBI’s report, 270 violent crimes were committed in Selma in 2014. Those include murder and manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The report also shows that 2,070 property crimes were committed, which includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.

Both of those numbers are up from 2013, which were 245 for violent crimes and 1,630 for property crimes, according to the 2013 report.

According to the report, Selma has a population of 19,705 people. Other cities similar in size are Albertville, Anniston, Oxford, Prichard and Troy.

Their populations range in size from 19,097 in Troy to 22,567 in Anniston.

Of those cities, Selma has the highest number of property crimes and the third highest number of violent crimes.

Brock said even though those five cities may have a similar population to Selma, the circumstances are different.

In 2014, the other five cities had August unemployment rates between 7.1 percent and 8.3 percent, but Dallas County had an unemployment rate of 12.9 percent.

“The communities are different. Every city is different,” Brock said.

“The opportunities are better in other cities that have got the same population. They have more opportunities for jobs, more money in their tax base, so it is hard to compare to anything.”

Whether the numbers are high or low, Brock said his focus is on getting more officers on the street.

“You can only do so much with what we’ve got, and we need more officers out there,” Brock said. “We’ve just got to get out there, hustle and do our job and work with what we’ve got. Until we get more people out there on the street we’re going to have stats like this.”

The city of Selma currently has 47 officers on staff, but it is budgeted for 60.

Brock said he has 13 slots to fill, but it is difficult to recruit people to become a police officer in Selma because of pay.

“To get more officers out on the street, city government has got to beef up the pay. The benefits and pay matter to new officers when they come looking for a job,” Brock said. “They look at benefits and pay, and if the benefits and pay are there, they’ll apply for the job.”

Brock said the numbers are what they are, but it all boils down to more manpower.

“You can make numbers say anything. You can make them as high as you want or as low as you want,” Brock said. “It’s just like anything else, but the main thing is getting more officers out on the street to help reduce the crime.”

The FBI’s report can be viewed at www.fbi.gov.