By Becky Pallack ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Posted on 10/18/2005 7:04:23 AM PDT by Kokojmudd
By Becky Pallack ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Despite a continued decline in violent crime across the country, Tucson recorded an increase in homicides and sexual assaults from 2003 to 2004, according to FBI statistics released Monday.
Nationally, murders fell for the first time in five years, but Tucson numbers were up slightly. There were 55 murders in Tucson in 2004, up five cases from 2003.
There were 16,137 murders in the United States in 2004 - about 350 fewer than in 2003, according to the FBI data. The decrease is the first since 1999. Chicago was largely responsible for the drop, recording 150 fewer murders in 2004 than in 2003.
Nationwide, murders have increased by 3.5 percent since 2000. In Tucson, 2000 was a grim year with 61 homicides. Since then, homicides have fallen nearly 10 percent.
And while FBI statistics show the number of reported rapes increased slightly nationwide, Tucson experienced a record year in 2004.
In Tucson, the number of reported rapes increased 17 percent from 2003, to 387 rapes, or 57 more than in 2003. Nationwide, rapes are up nearly 5 percent since 2000. In 2004, rapes increased nationwide by less than 1 percent, to 94,635 rapes, or about 750 more than in 2003.
"Those are indicating the number of reported rapes, which is a different thing from indicating the number of rapes committed," said Stephanie Sklar, executive vice president of the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault. "People really just aren't aware of the prevalence of this crime."
Sklar said the increase actually may be a good sign, meaning more people are reporting rapes and not seeing the crime as a mark of shame.
Overall, the number of reported violent crimes, which also include aggravated assaults and robberies, fell by 1.2 percent last year nationwide.
The violent crime rate in Tucson has remained steady for nearly a decade, at around one crime for every 10 people, according to Police Department data. But nationwide, the violent crime rate is at a 30-year low, government data show.
Despite the historical trend, the FBI "crime clock" shows a violent crime is committed every 23.1 seconds, and a murder occurs roughly every half-hour.
Property crimes - burglary, larceny and auto theft - dropped 1.1 percent nationwide in 2004, compared to 2003. Property crimes are down half a percent in Tucson, dropping from 47,298 reported crimes in 2003 to 47,044 in 2004. The property crime rate in Tucson is around 9 crimes for every 100 people.
Tucson has been at the top of the rankings for metro areas with high property crime rates for several years. Police officials say that rate has been inflated by a "reporting glitch."
Up to 12,000 of last year's property crimes counted in the FBI statistics were reports made by phone for which people never turned in a mail-in reporting form, said Capt. Terry Rozema. That means police have no documentation or evidence of a crime, he said.
By reporting those cases to the FBI, Tucson's numbers appear higher than other metro areas that don't report them, Rozema said. To fix the glitch, Tucson police now will report phone calls for property crimes as "miscellaneous" crimes until a mail-in form is received.
The new system likely will result in a 35 percent decrease in the reported property crimes, Rozema said.
"The reality is we make it easier for people to report crimes than probably any place in the nation because we have so many ways to report," he said. Tucsonans can report crimes in person at a police station, to an officer in the field, by phone, by mail or online.
How much of this has to do with illegals?
This article is pretty inflammatory and, perhaps, wrong. How much of this increase has to do with the increased population in Tucson? If you increase population by, say, 10% and murders increase by, say, 3%, then murders are gong down. These figures would be more valid if measured against population growth. The map gives the number of murders per 100,000. What was Tucson's "old" murder rate?
And some rural states are mostly olderly people, who do not murder, rob, and rape very often.
No surprises here
Look at the map
.. as compared to few hundred who died fighting for our freedom. Where is the screaming of MSM and daily reports of "casualties" like we see from Iraq? What about "medical errors" killing tens of thousands in hospitals? What about killed babies by abortions? What about traffic accidents?
Where is the credit to W for decline?
Not much, seeing that Alaska has such a high rate.
I live here - believe me this is a direct result of illegal alien influx - no more hiding it - cars with mexican plates make up at least 5-10 % of the cars on the streets. Illegals make up 20-40% of the children in our schools. Most of the murders happen on the south side which is predominantly hispanic and many of those are illegal.
"How much of this has to do with illegals?"
...in Arizona?..most of it...
I recently pulled jury duty at Superior Court. While waiting, I walked up and down the corridor and stopped to read the docket for each courtroom. The dockets were filled with page after page of Hispanic names - mostly illegals scheduled to go on trial or to have some sort of judicial hearing. It was a real eye-opener. Pablo shoots Raoul. Manuel arrested for drugs. Rosita arrested for drugs. Pedro scheduled for pre-sentencing hearing. ...and on and on. Also, IIRC most of the names had "(mn)" after them...which I interpreted to mean "Mexican National".
"How much of this has to do with illegals?"
A look at the color coding of the map give the answer.
Uh-huh, what do most of those (red) states with rates of over 500/100,000 have in common? A border with Mexico?
Individually, there are a lot of Mexicans who I like...my granddaughter chief among them. But this trend toward violence is simply insane and imminently preventable.
Gubamyster, can you ping, please? My copy of the list is corrupted.
are you sure they were illegal? Border states also have a a high percentage of legal hispanic immigrants. I don't know if we would waste time trying illegals.
Interesting. Wonder if that's directly related to the higher population of males.
Yes, illegals are tried, most of the time they are given a ticket or summons to appear in court or arrested and released on bail to appear later- suprise, suprise most do not bother to show up in court. There is a part of the process where it is determined if they will be sentenced and remain here in US in custody or just deported. Jails especially in border areas are full of Mexican Nationals.
Most people have the idea that all illegals want is a job and will keep their nose clean. That is true for some, but a large number seem to have the additude they can cross illegally and don't bother to follow other laws either while they are here. Large number of criminals incarcerated in US are illegally here to begin with.
We should not be subsidizing their prison stay AT ALL. They should be sent back.
"are you sure they were illegal?"
A fair question from you and I'd have to honestly answer "I don't know for sure." However, as Tammy pointed out in another post, the authorities do in fact prosecute and incarcerate large numbers of illegal aliens (primarily from Mexico), for serious crimes.
I try to find a link I use to have that showed the numbers/percentages of illegal aliens in the Arizona prison system - it was a huge number. I'll post that for you if I can find it...(always good for discussion here on FR to back up comments with facts!)...Best Regards...T_J
Ok, but it's not that urgent, LOL. I just find it frustrating that we're supporting them in prison instead of just tossing them back.
As an Arizona taxpayer, I find it a bit more than frustrating. It sure would be nice to believe that if we could stop people from sneaking in, we wouldn't have the problem of supporting so many prisoners.
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