[NYTr] Violent crime up in US 2nd year in a row

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

USA Today - Sep 25, 2007
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-24-crime_N.htm?csp=34

Violent crime up 2nd year in a row

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON--Violent crime nationwide increased for the second
consecutive year in 2006, and murders reached their highest levels in a
decade, according to the FBI's annual crime report, released Monday.

Murder rose by nearly 2% last year and robbery increased 7% as violence
re-emerged as a central issue in several large cities after more than a
decade of decline.

The 17,034 murders last year still do not come close to the 24,703
killings recorded in 1991, when crime was rampant in many parts of the
nation.

THE REPORT: Read the 2006 FBI Uniform Crime Report here:
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html

The overall rate of violent crime -- 473.5 per 100,000 people -- also
rose for the second straight year, although that rate represented the
third-lowest total in the past two decades.

The report showed that property theft offenses -- including car thefts--
dropped 2%, hitting their lowest level since 1987.

"While there's encouraging news in the latest crime rates from the
(FBI), violent crime remains a challenge for some communities," Justice
Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

An estimated 1.4 million violent crimes -- murders, rapes, robberies
and aggravated assaults -- occurred in 2006.

The FBI report, among the most reliable national measures of crime,
closely tracks with a survey of 56 U.S. cities published earlier this
year by the Police Executive Research Forum, an advocacy group. That
survey showed a nearly 3% increase in murder and a 6.5% jump in robbery.

"We now have two years worth of data which shows a significant
departure from the past 10 years," Executive Director Chuck Wexler said.

Among the most significant crime increases:

* Orlando recorded a 123% jump in murder, from 22 in 2005 to 49.
Robbery also was up 27%.

* In Oakland, murders rose 56%, from 93 in 2005 to 145.

* In San Francisco, robberies increased 25%, from 3,078 in 2005 to
3,858.

Police have credited factors including the breakup of the crack-cocaine
drug markets and a larger police presence in distressed communities for
the previous crime drop. The most recent increase has been less uniform
than the cocaine-fueled wave that defined the 1990s, and many cities
managed to avoid the trend.

In Denver, murders declined from 59 in 2005 to 51 in 2006, while
robberies dropped from 1,429 in 2005 to 1,280 last year.

In Charlotte, violent crime dipped by about 7% in 2006 after a surge in
2005 that featured a 30% increase in robberies, Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police Chief Darrel Stephens said.

Recent increases in violence have prompted new efforts by the federal
government to address evidence of rising gang activity and drug markets
in some cities. The Justice Department requested $200 million in 2008
to assist local violent crime enforcement units.