Mike Wilkinson / Detroit News
Detroit and some of its neighboring communities are battling rising crime rates, despite a third consecutive nationwide decline in violent crime, according to final 2009 statistics released by the FBI today.
The violent crime rate in Detroit, which measures murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, rose over 2 percent from 2008 to 2009, to nearly 2,000 for every 100,000 people in the city. The murder also climbed to 40 per 100,000, up from 34.
The city did see a 5 percent drop in the property crime rate. That mirrors the 4.6 percent decline in property crime nationally -- the seventh consecutive year that nonviolent crime rates have dropped.
Nationwide, there was a 5.3 percent drop in violent crime.
Warren, Eastpointe and Livonia and Dearborn Heights posted more dramatic increases, ranging from 23 to 36 percent from 2008 to 2009. In Livonia, there were 44 more violent crimes in 2009, mostly attributed to the additional 41 aggravated assaults reported there. That pushed the violent crime rate up 36.4 percent.
So, too, in Warren and Eastpointe, the increases are mainly in the number of aggravated assaults, though robberies rose from 58 to 84 in Eastpointe. In Dearborn Heights, aggravated assaults rose from 132 to 170, helping push its crime rate up 23 percent.
Other communities reporting substantial decreases in violent crime rates were Farmington Hills, down 25 percent; Southfield, down 19 percent; Troy, down 16 percent; and Clinton Township, down 15 percent.
In Detroit, the final 2009 crime statistics show there were 365 murders in the city last year, up from 306. However, that 2008 number has been contested; in May the FBI said there were 323 murders in 2008 while Detroit police say it was 342.
Nationwide, murder fell by 7.3 percent, robbery by 8 percent, aggravated assault by 4.2 percent and rape by 2.6 percent. Motor vehicle theft was down by 17.1 percent, larceny by 4 percent and burglary by 1.3 percent.
Data for the FBI's report comes from 17,985 governmental units and universities and colleges representing over 96 percent of the nation's population.
No comments:
Post a Comment