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CQ Press’s new rankings are out for the nation’s most dangerous cities. Compton ranks eighth in the nation, based on rates of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

But a lot of Compton residents disagree. Paula Parker was waiting for a bus. She has lived in Compton since 1968, and cites the toy drives and the turkey giveaways, the great churches, and a mayor and city council she heartily approves of.

“We just have a lot of good things people don’t come and see in Compton!” Parker said. “All they want to come see is the bad stuff!”

Compton City Manager Willie Norfleet noted the city’s high unemployment rate, at more than 20 percent, and he quoted Aristotle, saying when there is poverty, there will be crime or revolution. He also said new jobs provided by a Burlington Coat Factory might help, in addition to the new Gateway Plaza.

But while most people thought Compton was a fine city to buy a home and raise kids, Lisa in the Sheriff’s Department substation showed up to report a crime. She did not want to say what it was regarding, but she looked tired and sad. She worries every day about her kids, she said, and if she could, she would move out of Compton. She has family in Virginia.