Police: Tampa's crime rate down nearly 16%

The city's crime rate has plummeted 56 percent in the past seven years, police announced today, including a nearly 16 percent reduction last year.

The multiyear drop "translates into 20,000 less victims of crime, and that's a number that says, without a doubt, Tampa is a safer city," Police Chief Jane Castor said at a news conference.

The crime rate includes seven categories: murder, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larcenies, vehicle thefts and forcible sex offenses. Each saw a decrease in 2009; homicides were down 26 percent and auto thefts fell 22 percent.

Police have credited the drop in reported crimes to the department's Focus on Four Plan, which aims to reduce robberies, burglaries, auto thefts and auto burglaries, in turn reducing other crimes. The plan includes decentralizing resources, making better use of crime data and trends, and developing community partnerships.

Castor, who was named chief in the fall, said she had hoped for a 5 percent drop in last year's crime rate. She doesn't believe any other U.S. city can boast Tampa's accomplishments in the past seven years.

By comparison, crime in unincorporated Hillsborough County dropped 10.3 percent last year, with decreases in almost all of the major categories, the sheriff's office announced Monday.

According to the police department's 2009 statistics:

• Homicides dropped from 27 to 20.

• Sex offenses dropped from 115 to 111, though sodomy increased from seven to 10.

• Aggravated assaults dropped from 1,777 to 1,557.

• Larcenies dropped from 9,648 to 8,098.

• Burglaries dipped from 4,098 to 3,501.

• Robberies fell from 1,056 to 909.

• Auto thefts dipped from 1,752 to 1,361.

In compiling its annual crime rate, the police department follows guidelines from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI.

The standardized crime report tracks the seven key categories, which are known as Part 1 crimes.

Among those categories, auto burglary is the only crime in which several offenses can be committed in a single incident and counted as a single crime.

In 2002, there were more than 35,000 Part 1 crimes reported in the city. By last year, that number had fallen to about 15,500, police say.

Homicides are down nearly 46 percent over that period, and reported violent crimes are down 59 percent.

Tampa's population was estimated at 340,882 in 2008, compared with 303,447 in 2000, according to U.S. Census statistics.

Castor said she's hoping for a 5 percent drop in the crime rate for 2010 and is focusing on high-crime areas to help accomplish that goal.