Crime in Pittsburgh PA, USA verses Santo Domingo

I was talking to a lady a few weeks ago. She said how she didn't like Dominican Republic because of the high crime rate and that noone ever talks about that.
Well..I don't have any information on the crimes in Santo Domingo but I was curious and decided to look at a city near where I was raised. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
First some population facts just to put it in perspective a little better:
US Census Bureau Facts says 2006 population of Pittsburgh estimate was 1,223,411
Population of United States in 2007 is 301,139,947 according to the CIA World Fact Book
Dominican Republic population estimated July 2006; 8,950,034 according to the CIA World Fact Book
Estimated population of Santo Domingo (Metro)estimated 2,253,437 in 2006 according to Wikipedia

I just glanced through The Post Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune Review and pasted a few headlines.
Friday, July 27, 2007
N.Y. man charged in local bank robberies
5,000 student loan customers' info on stolen laptop
Town mourns death of tot and Grandmother. Driver who killed them was on her way home from methadone clinic
North Side vigil tonight for teen shooting victim
Man and teen shot in McKeesport
Man who killed Fayette County family set to die Sept. 19
Manchester man wounded in Hill District shooting
Man wanted in Wilkinsburg shooting
18-year-old shot in the head
Man convicted in severed body case
Driver in fatal hit-and-run at Station Square sought
Man arrested after holding two hostage
“About 12 hours ago, I heard again the sound of a 15-round clip being emptied”
Man and teen shot while riding in SUV in McKeesport
man in stable condition after being shot 5 times

I hear people saying that there is so much crime in DR. Which I know there is. But if you look anywhere in the world there is crime. In larger cities there is usually more crime. Why? Maybe because there are more people. In tourist areas there seems to be more crime. Why? Maybe because the bad guys are looking for an easy hit where they know people have cash.
I’m just trying to put it all in perspective.

Now if your talking about bad driving incidents…this is another story.

*Note - I know Pittsburgh is smaller than Santo Domingo. I just needed to compare a city that I knew and never really thought of as being "dangerous". I may delete this post after a few days because I'm not sure if its pertinent just yet. I was just watching the news and decided to check out the thoughts flowing through my jumbled up head