Crime in Madison Down, While Fear of Crime Seems to be Up

February 12, 2009 2:01 pm

I’m running out of blog time, so I’m going to be lazy. Check out the bolded parts of the press release below – crime is down. More analysis, tomorrow or next week.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MADISON CRIME DROPS IN 2008: BUT VIOLENT CRIME IS UP, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO GET NEW EMPHASIS

There were 10,572 reportable crimes in the City of Madison in 2008, which represents a slight decrease (-1.3%) from the 2007 tally of 10,705. Categories dealing with forcible rapes, burglaries, arsons, stolen vehicles and simple assaults all went down this past year.

Meanwhile our community experienced an up-tick in aggravated assaults and homicides, which helped fuel a 5.9% increase in Madison’s violent crime numbers.

In 2007 it was just the opposite: overall crime increased while violent crime went down more than 14%. This means violent crime – when looked at over a two-year span – is still down from where it was at in 2006.

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray believes crime numbers need to be analyzed over many years in order to get a true perspective on where our community is at in terms of public safety. When looking at data going back over a couple of decades, what bar graphs show is that crime numbers have been relatively stable in recent years – despite steady population growth. In fact, Madison was experiencing far greater crime numbers in the early 1990’s than we are seeing today. Also, as we analyze cities of comparable size, Madison’s crime rate is one of the lowest in the nation.

The new data does give us a valuable snapshot, one we must analyze and interpret. For example: last year – and into the first six-months of this year- burglary numbers were skyrocketing. At the rate they were occurring it appeared the 2008 tally would far surpass 2007. In response a Burglary “Blue Net” Task Force was created in early 2008. The concentrated effort appears to have had the desired impact; burglaries went down in the second half of 2008, and Madison ended up with fewer than 2007.

Each year the Madison Police Department will focus on crime categories where “red flags” appear to be rising. For the first time in MPD history we have, this year, taken a look at how much of a role domestic violence played in aggravated assault numbers. They went up more than 11% in 2008, and there was anecdotal evidence that domestic violence, in a down turned economy, was on the upswing. What was learned is that over 40% of the 463 cases in 2008 were directly connected to domestic violence. This coming year Chief Noble Wray is committed to capturing even more data concerning domestic violence as many arrested for such crimes are often charged with simple battery – rather than substantial batteries.