Most violent crime rates down
Murder, rape, robbery decrease while simple assault goes up
Most of the city’s violent crime rates are lower this year than they were last year, according to statistics released by the police department.
Police Chief Mark Kinmon released the numbers at a chief’s advisory meeting held in city hall last week.
“I certainly like what we’re seeing in this decrease in violent crime,” Kinmon said. “We’re going to keep doing everything we can to keep it going in that direction.”
The chief partially attributed the decrease in certain areas to an increase in man power within the department.
“We recently increased the amount of officers assigned to the narcotics and gang unit,” Kinmon said. “They were working just four nights a week because we had just five members … Now we have 10 officers assigned to that unit, working seven nights a week.”
This increase in activity in the narcotics and gang unit helped the department to seize seven guns last week alone. Last Thursday, the total number of guns seized for the month of August was 15.
Kinmon also said programs that facilitate relationships between police and the city’s youth are making a difference.
THIS YEAR SO FAR
The first set of statistics covered crimes reported from January through July, from 2000 to 2012.
In this round of statistics, two of nine types of crime increased while the rest went down.
The rate of aggravated assault jumped from 77 last year to 94 this year. Ninety-seven instances of aggravated assault were reported in 2010. The highest number in the past 12 years was 115 in 2001.
Arson also increased, from zero reported instances last year to three this year. The highest-ever number of reported instances of arson was eight in 2006.
Murder, rape and robbery rates are lower this year than they were at this point last year. There have been no murders reported this year. There were two reported last year and three reported in 2010.
Three instances of rape were reported by the end of July this year, while five were reported over the same period last year and eight in 2010.
This year, 44 robberies have been reported. Sixty-five were reported last year and 106 were reported in 2010.
Burglary has decreased from 208 last year to 130 this year, while theft decreased from 512 to 435. Auto theft decreased from 39 to 15 since last year.
LAST YEAR’S TOTALS
The second set of statistics dealt with crime totals from 2002 to 2011.
From 2010 to 2011, there were increases in four types of crime — murder, burglary, theft and simple assault.
Murder went from three to four. Burglary went from 335 to 412. Theft increased from 753 to 808.
Three areas saw decreases — rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
Rape went from 13 to 11. Robbery went from 188 to 114. And aggravated assault decreased from 140 to 131.
Manslaughter stayed at zero, while auto theft and arson stayed the same, at 59 and three respectively.
Driving while intoxicated [DWI] arrests have doubled since 2007. In 2007, there were 34 arrests for DWI. In 2011, there were 60.
Overall, calls for service decreased from 32,842 to 30,363.
