Inside Report (5)

Miami, worried about its growing image as a violent city, is -- well --counterattacking. City officials are sponsoring a five-day tour by US and foreign editors to emphasize the better side of life there.

Last year 572 persons were killed in Dade County, more than double the 1978 total. Says one criminologist, Miami has the highest homocide rate in the US -- 73 per 100,000 population.

Still, he says, a tourist in Miami or Miami Beach is not likely to find himself involved in a homocide -- a claim confirmed by the local police. They say almost 80 percent of the murder victims were known by their assailants.

The Cuban boatlift and black riots of last spring caused many citizens to arm themselves, ra ising the risk that a family quarrel could turn deadly.m