The Florida Department of Law Enforcement released crime data for 2015 and Leon County leads the state of Florida in crime rate for the second year in a row. The crime rate per 100,000 residents increased by 5.7% over 2014 numbers.
The crime rate in the state of Florida fell by 3.1% and also fell in 47 of the state’s 67 counties.
Listed below is the detail of crime statistics for Leon County. It must be noted that when FDLE separated out reporting law enforcement jurisdictions, the Tallahassee Police Department reported a 6.1% increase in the crime rate while the Leon County Sheriff’s Department reported a .1% increase in the crime rate.
The summary of data shows that violent crime rates increased by 14.8% and property crime rates increased by 4.1%. The number of total arrests decreased by 12.3%.
Looking at City of Tallahassee statistics, the offenses which were the major drivers in the increase in the crime rate were forcible rape, robbery, and motor vehicle theft.
- Rapes increased by 18.7%, from 198 offenses in 2014 to 235 in 2015. At the state level, rapes increased by 6.1%.
- Robbery increased by 30.0%, from 307 offenses in 2014 to 399 in 2015. At the state level, robbery was down by 2.0%.
- Aggravated assaults increased by 10.5% from 1,239 offenses in 2014 to 1,369 in 2015. At the state level, aggravated assaults increased by 3.9%.
- Motor vehicle theft increased by 45.6% from 665 offenses in 2014 to 968 in 2015. At the state level, vehicle theft increased by 12.4%.
- There were two more murders in 2015 than in 2014 and burglaries decreased by 10.5% from 2,316 offenses in 2014 to 2,073 offenses in 2014.
The Leon County crime rate has been an issue in several political races this year. Most notably, the Leon County Sheriff’s race and the two City Commission races.
City Incidents Keeps Leon County Ranked #1 in Florida Crime Rate, Arrests Decline added by Staff on
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I don’t see how Tallahassee is trying to promote our city as a great place to retire in on one hand and then let criminals run rampant on the other hand. The two don’t mix well. I am in the process of purchasing my retirement home off of Mission Road and today when I went to go take a walk through my new neighborhood I saw graffiti and other elements that made me nervous enough to go back to my vehicle. Hard-working citizens should not have to live like this.
Everyone knows what the real crime problem is in Tallahassee but it is not politically correct to discuss it. Crime will only get worse with liberal lip service programs.
I grew up in Tampa Bay (approx. 3 million people) and lived in Orlando 27 years (approx. 1.25 million people) before moving to a large NE neighborhood here in Tallahassee in 2006. Yet this town is the only place I’ve ever lived that I feel the need to accompany my wife when she takes a walk to the park in our neighborhood. I also strongly caution her to park very close to storefronts when she goes shopping and to carefully observe her surroundings on her way to the car afterward.
I worked downtown here for eight years and avoid the area after dark unless it’s a large public event. Sadly, life in Tallahassee requires more than moderate caution – our crime stats prove that repeatedly, and our government seems unwilling or unable to declare it THE top community priority or budget item.
TR has run some good articles on Community Policing and other ideas to address this issue in the past. Of course none of our local leaders took any action. I think it would be telling if we saw the geographic distribution of crime here in Leon County. However, we really don’t want to talk about that. Maybe that’s why nothing is being done.
You can blame Obama for this one. No jobs, no incentive to work, no self-esteem, no food for children, drugs and alcohol go up because of depression. The welfare state and the city commission that supports this policy are to blame. Not to mention churches who allow and create an environment of permissiveness by example or by being lukewarm to the truth of no sex outside of marriage coupled with a generation who has been taught to have a sense of entitlement equals disaster for mankind. Chalk it up to no God, no life. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Maybe it is all the other people leaving other parts of Florida and moving to Tallahassee hoping to escape the crime rates in the cities and counties they lived in…
the other cities still have high crime rates in Florida so they haven’t changed, but a city that did not have the high crime rates starts to receive a large population from these other cities and counties certainly would increase the crime rate… just thinking out loud..
Curfew? Great idea, I love being told when I can and when I can’t leave my %@#ing house. Or maybe we could address some of the root causes of crime so the whole city isn’t under %$@#ing house arrest.
Uniform Crime Reports indicate that crime in the City of Tallahassee decreased 45% between 1997 and 2007. They begin to dramatically increase in 2013. Last year Leon County achieved the infamous designation as having the highest crime in the state for the first time since 1971. Then again this year. Those were the years Walt McNeil was chief.
Walt Mcneil was Chief of Police from 1997 to 2007
With a 4am bar closing, we will end up having people driving drunk in the morning rush hour. When I
lived in Ft. Laud, I had two incidents where the driver fell asleep in front of me at a red light at 7am.
Here is the source page for comparison to other counties your readers might be interested in seeing.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/cms/FSAC/UCR/2015/cnty_annual15.aspx
Every one of the crimes in the list is the type of crime that so disrupts one’s life, it is considered a life-altering event.
More than fifteen thousand victims get this “event” in Leon County/Tallahassee every year.
This is intolerable.
This is not Walt McNeil’s legacy.
This is a direct result of the Tom Coe legacy of choosing to ignore “minor” crime entirely.
Mr. Coe fostered a three-generations’ long growth industry in criminals getting a free ride in Tallahassee. It is now a permanent cultural change and attitude.
This is a fact of life that Tallahassee/Leon County will live with for the next full century and beyond.
We are the crime center of Florida.
We’re stuck with the results of an inbred city commission doing business as usual every single day.
They fired Tom Coe as police chief and made him an assistant city manager. That’s the pattern of failure that is normal in City Hall.
Letting your bars and nightclubs stay open till 4am doesn’t help. Maybe a 2:00am in curfew would help. Nobody outside no problem, somebody outside problem. If people can’t curfew themselves as a community then maybe law enforcement should. Very few things good happen in the early morning hour.
The legacy of Walt McNeal’s tenure as chief at TPD!
That’s ridiculous; McNeil hasn’t been Chief for 6 years. Stop trying get to use this to get your guy elected