Crime down 10 percent in Hillsborough, report shows

Crime in unincorporated Hillsborough County dropped 10.3 percent last year, with decreases in almost all of the most significant categories, the sheriff's office announced today.

Standardized crime reports track seven key categories: murder, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larcenies, vehicle thefts, and forcible sex offenses, which include forcible rape, sodomy and fondling.

According to the department, six of seven categories decreased from 2008 to 2009.

Murder is down 44.9 percent, robbery 10.2 percent, aggravated assault 20.9 percent, larceny 10.5 percent, vehicle theft 19.6 percent and forcible sex offenses 37.3 percent.

Burglary is up 0.1 percent.

Deputies follow guidelines from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI on how to compile the information.

A few years ago, the sheriff's office started intelligence-led policing efforts, allowing the office to be more proactive, sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon said. He credited much of the reduction in crime to those efforts.

"When deputies see an emerging crime pattern, they focus then and there and determine who's involved," he said. "If there's any structural organization to it, we try to dismantle those particular characters involved in it."

According to the 2009 statistics:

Reported homicides dropped from 46 to 34.

Reported sex offenses, which include rape and sodomy, dropped from 726 to 455.

Reported aggravated assaults dropped from 3,066 to 2,426.

Reported larcenies dropped from 19,144 to 17,141.

Reported burglaries increased from 7,505 to 7,515.

Reported robberies fell from 1,089 to 978.

Reported auto thefts dipped from 2,464 to 1,981.

Although simple assaults are not classified the same as the other seven categories of crimes, statistics show the department had 9,831 simple assaults in 2009 compared with 8,639 in 2008 - a 13.8-percent increase.