Tampa police report six-year crime drop of 46 percent
From Tampabay.com
TAMPA — Flanked by the mayor and more than a dozen officers, Tampa police Chief Stephen Hogue this morning announced astonishing six-year improvements in crime rate reduction.
According to TPD figures, crime has dropped 46 percent since 2003 and 9.2 percent since 2007.
That includes a 59.2 percent decline in forcible sex offenses, a 67.2 percent drop in motor vehicle theft, 51 percent cut in aggravated assaults, 40.3 percent drop in robbery and 34.1 percent drop in murder.
“It is a good day for us,” Hogue said, crediting Mayor Pam Iorio for giving the department the charge to forcefully tackle the city’s crime troubles when she first came into office.
“Tampa is a safer city today in 2009 than it was six years ago,” Iorio said when she took her turn at the lectern. “You don’t reduce crime by 46 percent in six years by accepting the status quo.”
Under Hogue’s administration, the Police Department decentralized some of its tactical resources, bulking up each of the three police districts so that each geographical area would have the in-house expertise to address the needs specific to each neighborhood.
Additionally, Hogue said, it took a data-driven approach to attacking crime waves. Analysts in each district monitor crimes on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, giving that information to the street officers to help them spot trends before they spiral out of control.
Hogue said the police officers’ efforts to partner with the communities they serve has been a key element to gaining trust, learning about crimes as they occur and ending unlawful behavior before it escalates.
“The Tampa Police Department essentially had to change how we did business,” Hogue said.
Police focused especially on monitoring what Hogue called four “pattern crimes” — robbery, burglary, auto theft and auto burglary. Although such crimes are not necessarily the most violent, they are often committed by the same people who commit more serious offenses.
“Criminals are not generally specialists,” Hogue said.
In addition to the Police Department’s top command staff, a smattering of neighborhood activists attended the press conference.
Christie Hess and Susan Long, both of Seminole Heights, said that seven years ago they not only didn’t trust their neighbors, they didn’t trust the police.
Hess said that when she joined her neighbors to try to combat prostitution, she felt that the police were unsupportive, telling her she didn’t belong on the streets of Seminole Heights. Now, she said, parents and children regularly walk and bicycle down the streets of Seminole Heights.
And when something seems troubling, neighbors have the nonemergency police number plugged into their phones. Word has gotten out, Hess said: “You’re not bothering the Police Department when you call them.”
Long, too, said six years ago she wouldn’t have even thought of walking a block to see a friend. Last night, she said, she walked down the street at night without fear.
ALSO SEE FOX TV ARTICLE/VIDEO AT: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/hillsborough/tampa_crime_rate_041309
