Detroit got mixed reviews in the FBI Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, released Monday. Violent crime overall fell during the first half of 2011, but the murder numbers have increased. Detroit remains one of the five most dangerous American cities.
The FBI report is based on data submitted by more than 12,500 local US law enforcement agencies. This report covers crime statistics for the first two quarters of 2011.
Total occurrences of violent crime in Detroit fell substantially over the corresponding period of 2010, about 23%. That’s 6,198 violent crimes this year compared to 8,133 last year.
Forcible rapes were down to 177 from 200; robberies reduced 1,760 from 2,541; and aggravated assaults at 4,088 from 5,241 last year.
The only violent crime that didn’t experience a reduction was murder.
There were 173 homicides through June, 2011 compared to 151 for the first half of 2010, an increase of 15%.
This bucks the national trend, in which murder is down 5.7%.
Detroit trails only Chicago and New York City in the number of murders, but is far less populous so the murder rate is greater. For example, Chicago’s 181 murders were spread over a population of 2.7 million. Detroit had 173 murders with a population of only 713,777.
The increase has persisted during the second half of the year. To date there have been 327 murders in Detroit, compared to 292 for the same time last year. That is an increase of about 12%.
Detroit’s murder rate places it third among America’s cities, behind St Louis and Flint, and ahead of Memphis and Little Rock in the top five.
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