In a speech yesterday in Cambridge, Gov. Martin O'Malley told state lawmakers and county employees that public safety must remain a priority, even as Maryland faces a nearly $2 billion revenue shortfall this year.

According to The Sun's Julie Bykowicz, O'Malley, a Democrat, touted improvements in public safety, calling it a "great shame" that Maryland was ranked the country's fourth most violent state three years ago. With two years of 11 percent reductions in homicides statewide and a more than 50 percent reduction last year in Baltimore's juvenile homicides, O'Malley said, "it's undeniable that we are doing things right."

So how much have things changed? Well for starters, O'Malley misstated and actually undersold the state's violent crime ranking - Maryland was the fourth-most violent state in 2005, not three years ago. So the improvement was occurring during the last year of Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich's tenure - although, Baltimore largely drives the state's crime rate, and O'Malley was mayor then.

Anyway, despite improvements, Maryland since 2005 has stayed in the top eight states as its rate of violent crime per 100,000 people fell 11 percent. Nevada, Louisiana, Delaware, Alaska and New Mexico have surpassed the state during that time.

Here's a breakdown of where Maryland has ranked nationwide, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports: