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Tampa crime rate at 28-year low

Police officials attribute the drop to improvements in crime analysis, education and community policing.

By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published February 8, 2006

TAMPA - Mayor Pam Iorio was a senior in high school the last time Tampa was as safe as police say it is today.

About 60,000 fewer people lived here. New Tampa didn't exist. And the Tampa Police Department had 28 fewer square miles to patrol.

"It seems like, lately, everything is going up but the crime rate," police Chief Stephen Hogue said Tuesday as he announced the lowest number of reported crimes in 28 years.

Back in 1977, when disco was king and Jimmy Carter was president, police investigated 24,057 crimes. After crack cocaine hit the streets in the mid 1980s, crime reports spiked to 56,468. But last year, the combined number of murders, rapes, aggravated assaults, robberies, burglaries, auto thefts and larcenies fell to the lowest point in nearly three decades: 24,976.

From 2003 to 2005, reported crime in those seven categories, compiled nationally by the FBI, dropped by nearly 30 percent in Tampa. County crime statistics for 2005 were not available Tuesday.

Large cities elsewhere have shown similar declines. The Los Angeles crime rate dropped 14 percent in 2005, and police there called it the city's lowest since the mid 1950s.

Hogue attributed Tampa's declining crime reports to more community policing, better crime prevention education, improved Tampa Police Department morale and more people to analyze crime patterns.

When Hogue took over as police chief, the city had two people dedicated to analyzing crime trends. Hogue hired three additional analysts and dedicated one to each of the department's three districts. Now, district leaders have monthly meetings to go over crime trends and look for answers.

For example, the numbers may show a blip in stolen cars in an area. That triggers stepped-up patrols. Without the additional analysts, the trend might have taken longer to detect.

"This is information that officers never had before," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

Iorio said business leaders consider Tampa's quality of life when thinking about relocating here. They want to know about schools, infrastructure, cost of living, and most importantly, she said, crime.

The city's crime statistics could also reflect a 2005 change in reporting methods.

Hogue said the department learned in October 2004 that it was overreporting some crime. For instance, one afternoon's string of car burglaries in a mall parking lot would have generated multiple reports. The FBI allows agencies to group them as one crime.

But lifelong Tampa resident Samuel L. Mobley Sr. said he chalks up the lower crime rate to more than just a change in reporting practices.

There's been a change in attitude and police response since Hogue became chief, Mobley said.

"They address the problems that we have," said Mobley, 61, president of the Tampa Neighborhood Watch Association.

Five years ago, he said, he thought about abandoning his east Tampa neighborhood. Drug dealers would roam the streets late at night, music blasting. The streets are more peaceful now, he said.

Officers take more time to get to know people in the neighborhoods they patrol. They distribute information on preventing thefts. If an officer sees a garage door open, he stops and advises the home owner to close it.

"The goal of this administration has been to revitalize Tampa and its socio-economically depressed areas," Hogue said.

For that to happen, the crime rate has to drop, he said.

"That has been the mission of this department," Hogue said, "to bring the crime rate down."

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.

[Last modified February 8, 2006, 04:56:19]