Crime In Tampa Falls 10 Percent In Single Year
By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune - Published: March 14, 2008
"TAMPA - Tony LaColla remembers how Ybor City’s Seventh Avenue used to morph into a bacchanal every weekend along a pedestrian mall clogged with bar-hopping partiers.
That atmosphere has changed, LaColla said Thursday after hearing Tampa police Chief Stephen Hogue announce a nearly 72 percent crime drop in the neighborhood over the past five years.
Hogue made the announcement while releasing the Tampa Police Department’s 2007 annual crime statistics Thursday. The statistics show the city’s overall crime rate dropped 10 percent since 2006 and nearly 43 percent during the past five years - a level not seen since the 1970s.
Seven categories of reported crime are tracked to compile the crime rate. They are homicide and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible sex offenses, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny and motor-vehicle theft.
The statistics released Thursday only reflect crime citywide. The department did not have a detailed breakdown of these seven crime categories for each patrol grid.
Tampa police released their annual crime statistics ahead of other local law enforcement agencies, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI. FDLE typically releases the annual crime report for the state in May and currently has only semiannual statistics for each law enforcement agency. The FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report appears around October.
The statistics released Thursday do not reflect every crime in these seven categories reported in Tampa. For statewide and national comparison, police follow guidelines from FDLE and the FBI that specify how the categories are compiled. For instance, if more than one of the same crime occurs at the same time and address, such as six cars burglarized at an apartment complex, this is counted as one crime, the guidelines say.
These statistics also do not include every crime in the city, because not every victim reports a crime, Hogue said. Some sexual assaults go unreported, as do thefts people consider minor. "Two crimes that do get reported, for the most part, are murder and auto theft," he said.
Homicide Is Exception To Trend
In the Tampa statistics, homicide rose nearly 8 percent, from 26 in 2006 to 28 recorded last year. This crime is difficult to predict, Hogue said.
"It’s something that is a concern of ours," he said.
The other six categories tracked for the crime rate declined, most significantly auto theft. The number of stolen vehicles reported in the city dropped nearly 30 percent, from 3,087 in 2006 to 2,164 last year, these statistics show.
In addition, police focusing on traffic enforcement along 22 of the city’s busiest roads helped reduce traffic crashes citywide nearly 10 percent, from 16,439 in 2006 to 14,833 last year, Hogue said. This occurred even as Tampa’s estimated population rose about 1 percent, to 335,320, he said.
Other highlights:
•Reported aggravated assaults dropped about 11 percent, from 2,445 to 2,188.
•Reported larcenies dropped about 8 percent, from 11,251 to 10,390.
•Reported burglaries fell about 5 percent, from 4,451 to 4,221.
•Reported forcible sex offenses, which include forcible rape, sodomy and fondling, declined about 3 percent, from 158 to 154.
•Reported robberies fell less than 1 percent, from 1,211 to 1,205.
Ybor Undergoes ‘Visible’ Change
Hogue pointed to Ybor City as "one of our success stories." There were 360 reported Part 1 crimes in Ybor City last year, a reduction of about 9 percent to 326 in 2007, he said.
The area has benefited from the department’s focus on four key crimes: auto theft, robbery, burglary and burglary from a vehicle, Hogue said. These crimes are easy to examine for trends and to attack through resources.
LaColla said the change in Ybor is "definitely visible," although he added, "It’s still a little iffy going out at two or three o’clock in the morning."
Police have been responsive to residents and business owners, attending community meetings regularly, he said.
LaColla thinks the drop in crime also can be attributed to a shift in the area’s dynamics. Since the city opened Seventh Avenue to traffic in 2005, the wild "Bourbon Street-type atmosphere" found during Mardi Gras in New Orleans has dissipated, he said.
Popular nightclubs no longer dominate the area, sharing space with residents, shops and restaurants, LaColla said. He expected the crime drop to continue as the area segues into more mixed use.
Residents would like to see police find a solution to the many vagrants who hang around in Ybor City, as well as the visitors who play the radio, drink and dance in the pay-to-park lots after the nightclubs close, LaColla said. "They’re not ready to stop the party, but people live next door," he said."
Source: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar…ar/?news-metro
