MASSENA -- Mayor Tim Currier says a California real estate brokerage’s blog that ranks Massena as the 30th most dangerous place in New York state “is irresponsible and factually challengeable.”

“This blog, this report, is misleading. Massena and the North Country is a safe place to live,” Currier said, who was Massena’s police chief for nearly three decades before his election to the mayor’s office.

The list’s compilers say they used 2013 FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics to determine their rankings.

Currier said most of Massena’s crime is property-related, which isn’t a dangerous crime.

"This ranking is terribly skewed. First and foremost, Massena's biggest crime issue is property crime and the vast majority of our property crimes are larceny (someone stole something),” Currier said on Friday. “When someone steals, for example, from a retail store, that is not dangerous.”

He says that more than 82 percent of the 2013 crime index in Massena is due to larceny.

Another part of the list Currier takes issue with is that it says people had a 1:25 chance of being the victim of a crime that year.

“To indicate that if you lived in Massena last year there is a 1:25 chance you were the victim of a crime is flat our ridiculous,” Currier wrote in a prepared statement. “Stop 10 people on the street and see if that number is accurate, you won’t find data that is anywhere near close to support that.”

He says that another factor not considered in the blog is when a suspect is charged with multiple counts stemming from one incident.

“For example, if someone enters a home and assaults a person. At a minimum they would be charged with burglary and assault - two violent crimes, with one victim,” Currier said.

He urges people to read the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services crime report that covers 2009 to 2013. It can be viewed here.

“Our violent crime dropped nearly one-third from 2012 and the violent crime is mostly aggravated assaults, not murder, rarely rape, rarely robbery. Furthermore, these crimes have tended to be in the illegal drug trade element of the community, therefore not affecting most of our citizens directly,” Currier said. “I just ask people to look at the real numbers and not the headline. It’s simply misleading. We have some drug issues and crime issues associated with it here in Massena, but Massena is a safe community. One of the reasons people live in Northern NY is because of our great quality of life. The fact that our communities are safe is a big part of that quality of life. Don’t let a real estate broker from California mislead you because of a computer-generated study they released with no understanding of the reality of how things are here. This blog, this report is insulting and should be removed.”