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State Crime Rate Up In Early 2007

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By DAVID ROYSE, The Associated Press

Published: November 4, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The number of crimes committed in Florida edged up slightly in the first half of 2007, bucking a yearslong trend of declining crime in the state, according to a report released Friday.

Violent crime, which had shifted upward in recent years, continued that troubling trend, increasing in Florida by 2 percent in the first half of the year over the first half of 2006, according to statistics from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The number of murders - particularly those committed with guns - had one of the largest percentage increases this year. Through the end of June 2007, there were 589 murders in Florida, a 13.7 percent increase over the 518 reported in the state in the first half of 2006.

The number of murders committed with a gun jumped from 340 in the first half of 2006 to 407 in the first half of 2007, a 19.7 percent increase, the figures showed.

Overall, the number of crimes tracked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and by state law enforcement officials went up 3.9 percent in the first half of the year, the FDLE said. The list of crimes that are tracked ranges widely, from murder and rape to less serious crimes like stealing bicycles or change out of vending machines.

The number of crimes considered violent - a very small percentage of all crimes - went from 63,712 in the first half of 2006 to 65,011 in the first half of 2007, the data showed.

The data, released with little comment near the end of the day Friday, doesn't take into account changes in population - which are hard to track. That means that some of the increase in the absolute number of crimes could be explained, at least in part, by continued growth in the number of people in Florida.

The reports showed Hillsborough and Pinellas counties saw a decline in violent crime, with Hillsborough dropping 4.3 percent and Pinellas declining by 4.9 percent.

Pasco had an increase of 6.3 percent, and Polk County's rate rose 11.8 percent.
Federal officials estimate that Florida's population grew by about 300,000 people from 2005 to 2006, but estimates for the current year aren't yet available, making it difficult to see whether the rate of crimes has changed in Florida - as opposed to just the number of crimes.

Still, the new data reverse a long downward trend that had officials crowing in recent years that Florida's crime rate had dropped to its lowest in three decades. For example, the number of crimes reported in the first half of 2006 in Florida was 0.3 percent lower than the number in the first half of 2005, which was more than 3 percent lower than in the first half of 2004. And those decreases came in spite of increasing population in the state.

The increase in murders was first noticed last year - with a 27 percent increase in the first six months of 2006 over the first half of 2005.

Florida's shift to increasing numbers of crimes mirrors a new national trend. Violent crime rose nearly 2 percent in the country as a whole last year, according to the FBI. The number of murders was also up nearly 2 percent last year - but murders spiked last year in big cities in America, seeing a nearly 7 percent increase in cities with more than 1 million people.

Florida officials, led by Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum, have said they're concerned about increases in gang activity and pledged to crack down on it. A statewide grand jury has been set up to look at that problem.

Criminologists have offered different suggestions for what may be driving crime back up after a sharp decline in the early 2000s. Some have pointed to a slowdown in the economy, others blame changes in demographics, with changes in the number of males in the prime crime-committing ages.

There was some good news in the statistics released Friday, including a small drop in the number of domestic violence offenses and decreases in the number of some sex offenses. The number of rapes, for example, was more than 7 percent lower this year. The FDLE suggested stronger sentencing laws for sex offenders may be at work.

Tribune reporter Mike Wells contributed to this report.

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