The statewide numbers show a decrease of 8.0% for this time period.

The table below compares the six categories that constitute the Total Crime Index for the first six months of 2017 and 2018 for Leon County and Florida.

For Leon County, the decrease translates to 541 fewer crimes. Declines in the categories of aggravated assault, burglary, and larceny had the largest impact on the Total Crime Index. Only rape and motor vehicle theft showed increases.

Also, the clearance rate for offenses in Leon County increased from 17.3% to 21.9%. The statewide clearance rate was reported to be 20.0%.

All data is self-reported by each jurisdiction and compiled by the FDLE.

Earlier this year, the Tallahassee Police Department, after hiring a consultant to conduct an audit, changed the way it reports the number of crimes. For example, now incidents in a specific area committed by the same person are tallied as one crime.

This was also the case in 2016. See the FBI reports below.

The FBI states that university/college crime statistics are affected by a variety of factors. These include demographic characteristics of the surrounding community, ratio of male to female students, number of on-campus residents, accessibility of the campus to outside visitors, size of enrollment.

Florida State University is located within the Tallahassee city limits. Tallahassee/Leon county has led the state of Florida in crime rate for the last four years – 2014,2015,2016, and 2017.

Also, the city of Tallahassee has set two new records for murders over the last four years.

Last year President John Thrasher in a statement lauded the outreach and crime-fighting efforts of the police department and maintained that student safety is paramount.

“We must continue working closely with our local law enforcement agencies to stem the rising tide of crime in other parts of the community,” Thrasher said. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff.”

Like in 2017, the report says the FSU leads in multiple crime categories to include rape, property crime, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.

The statistics are based on all offenses that were reported to local law enforcement in 2017.

The university reported higher crime counts than larger schools like the University of Central Florida in Orlando, the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida International University in Miami, and the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The FBI reports for 2016 and 2017 are below:

The crime rate per 100,000 residents in Leon county decreased by 15.0% over 2016 numbers.

The table below shows that the violent crime rate – as defined as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault – fell by 10.3% and the property crime rate fell by 15.8%.

However, the number of murders in Leon county increased 83% from 12 in 2016 to 22 in 2017.

The total crime rate in the state of Florida fell by 4.5% and also fell in 39 of the state’s 67 counties.

Despite the decrease in the per-capita crime from 2016, Leon county continues to lead the state of Florida in crime rate.

The table below compares the crime rate per 100,000 residents for all counties with a population greater than 200,000.

Tallahassee Reports has previously published stories about Tallahassee having the highest per capita crime rate in the state of Florida in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Those reports can be read here and here and here.

The 2017 Uniform Crime Report (UCR) incorporates the Tallahassee Police Department and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office into a comprehensive overview of  the community.

The 2017 UCR reported decreases in both Violent Crime (10.8%) and Property Crime (14.8%).

Overall, for reported Index Offenses there was an increase in clearance rates for 2017 (18.7%) compared to 2016 (15.9%).

The comparison of state-wide UCR 2017 rates will be made available by FDLE later this year.

Chief DeLeo also reported on the status of safety cameras that were installed in high crime areas.

DeLeo told elected officials that the safety cameras placed within the Bond community continue to be operational and have not been altered from their initial installation locations. DeLeo said the Tallahassee Police Department continues to receive positive feedback from many residents within the Bond Community.

DeLeo concluded his report by summarizing the City/County Focus Subjects (CCFS) Top 10 program which was started in August 2017, with a total of seven subjects. The CCFS has since had a total of 29 subjects placed on the list.

DeLeo reported that 17 of the subjects were designated and investigated by TPD, 12 were designated and investigated by LCSO,  and 10 Focus subjects have been arrested and two have warrants.

During this period, the number of crimes fell from 14,092 to 12,152. The decrease was led by a 15% decline in property crime and a 1.7% decrease in violent crime.

The lower property crime numbers were led by a 39% decrease in motor vehicle theft.

With respect to violent crime, a decrease in robberies and rape were the driving factors. However, murders were up, from 12 to 18 during the time period, and aggravated assaults were also up.

Other community safety updates:

On December 13, 2017, the City of Tallahassee and Tyler Technologies, Inc. finalized a contract for the implementation of a new Records Management System. The Tallahassee Police Department will work attentively with Tyler Technologies, Inc., Technology and Innovations and internal staff members to ensure project benchmarks are completed on schedule and the entire project is completed no later than January 31, 2019.

Tallahassee Police Department staff continue to work with Architects Design Group (ADG) in completing the spatial needs analysis for a new TPD facility. In December, representatives from ADG were on site conducting interviews and collecting information from sworn and non-sworn members about their respective work areas and future needs. The agency looks forward to receiving a report based upon their site assessment and interviews. This report will be vital for facility plans and assessing property for acquisition.

The Tallahassee Police Department continues moving forward with implementation of body-worn cameras.  On December 19, 2017, the Tallahassee Police Department was notified that their submitted departmental policy for the Body Worn Camera Grant (2017-BC-BX-0038) was approved by BJA.

Technology and Innovations has been developing a “My TPD” mobile application for phones. The “My TPD” app provides the police department the ability to send notifications to the public on ongoing significant incidents, alerts and road closures. In addition, there are quick links to TOPS, TPD Facebook, TPD Twitter, TPD on Nextdoor, Big Bend Crime Stoppers, TPD on Instagram, phone numbers to report an incident to the Consolidated Dispatch Agency and other links connect to City of Tallahassee websites.

The overall decrease was driven by a 11.9% decrease in property crimes like burglary and larceny. The number of motor vehicle thefts fell from 598 in 2016 to 430 in 2017.

However, violent crime was up by 6.8%. This included increases in murders, from 5 to 7, and aggravated assaults.

The data also shows that Leon County has one of the lowest clearance rates per 100 offenses (17.3) in the state. The state average is 23.5.

The FDLE’s report shows the state’s crime, both violent and property related, dropped by 2.0%.

The report shows murder, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and larceny were all down in Florida. However, rape and motor vehicle theft were actually up. It also shows domestic violence fell.

Selected Leon County statistics for first six months 2017:

• Rapes decreased by 10.6% from 132 offenses to 118. At the state level, rapes increased by 8.0%.
• Robbery decreased by 1.0%, from 222 offenses to 220. At the state level, robbery was down by 4.6%.
• Aggravated assaults increased by 12.7% from 663 offenses to 747. At the state level, aggravated assaults decreased by 1.1%.

Check back for updates.

The increase in violent crime over the first seven months of the year was driven by aggravated assaults which increased by 11.9% from 544 in 2016 to 609 in 2017.

During this period, murders increased from 5 in 2016 to 7 in 2017. The 7 murders so far this year is significantly down from the 12 murders recorded over the first seven months of 2015.

The 15% decrease in property crime was driven by declines in burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. Motor vehicle theft declined approximately 33% from 601 during the first seven months in 2016 to 399 in 2017.

The total number of reported crimes during this period is down 12.1% from 6,436 in 2016 to 5,660 in 2017. The first seven months of 2015 experienced a total of 5,325 crimes.

Gun Violence

In August, the Tallahassee Police Department concluded its annual review of gun violence for 2016. The analysis determined the violent crimes involving firearms decreased by 32% in 2016, when compared to 2015.

The demographics of those involved in violent crimes involving firearms has stayed consistent. The majority of our victims and suspects are black males between the ages of 18-24. The demographics of victims and suspects have been consistent since 2013, and are consistent with nationwide trends.

The gun violence trends are shown in the graph below:

A recent article by Tallahassee Reports highlighted the stark differences the between crime statistics for Alachua County and Leon County, two very similar counties with similar demographics and challenges, but with vastly different violent crime and arrest rates.

According to the June 20 article, Alachua’s crime rate decreased nearly 40 percent over the same period as Leon County’s jumped 21 percent. Seemingly simultaneously, Tallahassee’s arrest rate and clearance rate collapsed as the crime rate rose.

Gainesville Police Department (GPD) Public Information Officer Ben Tobias attributed his city and county’s success to everyone — from students, universities, citizens, local law enforcement agencies and the individual officers — recognizing crime problems and working together to solve them.

“Our sheriff and chief absolutely get along well together,” Tobias said. He said additionally there is an ongoing partnerships with the University of Florida, and when a problem is identified it becomes a priority for everybody.

He said when Gainesville noticed a spike in vehicular burglary, law enforcement formed a joint task force, in which detective bureaus worked together to find and prosecute the perpetrators. Efforts also included a proactive public service campaign which included conventional television advertisements and an unconventional tactic of placing flyers on parked cars. The placards individually evaluated the security of each vehicle and offered tactics to better secure it and its contents.

Sgt. Paul Pardue is the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) Racial and Ethnic Disparity Coordinator. He said ACSO has taken a long-range plan addressing juvenile crime in hopes of reducing the overall crime rate long-term. By working with schools and the community, early behavior is monitored with referrals made for both children and their families to mental health, drug abuse and social service agencies. In all but the most serious crimes, every attempt is made to avoid arrest of juveniles.

However, law enforcement does not turn a blind eye to the juvenile crimes, according to Pardue. He said, “While we try every intervention possible, these juvenile offenders are held accountable.”

He said ACSO takes a three-pronged approach – it makes sure the youth is held accountable, learns something and makes the victims whole.

“For instance, if a juvenile steals from a home owner, in addition to issuing a civil citation, we will help work out a deal with the home owner, where maybe the juvenile will work doing yard work or something. It’s sort of an Andy Griffith approach,” he explained.

A lot of responsibility is placed on the officers for building relationships with the community they patrol.
“Our officers are assigned specific patrols and are held accountable for their actions. They’re expected to ‘own’ that patrol zone. It becomes their community and they really do care,” said Tobias.

That means getting out of the patrol car and questioning the kid on the street corner at 2 a.m., according to Pardue.

“Officers must take that extra five or 10 minutes. It doesn’t cost anything,” Pardue said.

Tobias said this intimate knowledge of their zones allow officers to patrol more effectively. For example, if they know a certain resident is out of town, they can keep a closer watch on that home. Conversely, Tobias explained, when a resident knows the officers by name, and even has their cell numbers, in many cases, the resident is much more likely to call to report a crime or provide information that leads to arrests.

“But as with all law enforcement, it’s not all hugs and sunshine,” said Tobias. A close relationship with the community does not mean not enforcing the law.“(People living in high crime areas) want law and order. They just need to trust us,” said Pardue.

Tobias said GPD has a Special Operations Unit which is a branch of the detective bureau. It investigates violent crime, burglaries and narcotics. Within that unit is a group of officers that do nothing but go after problem areas.

“If we notice a dramatic increase in violent crime or drugs in a particular area, we’ll send these officers there,” he said.

He continued, “These officers are nice human beings but they are going to directly affect the crime in that area. If there are violent people or open-air drug markets, we’ll move into those areas and protect the community but at the end of the day, we’re going to take the bad guys to jail.”

The presentation was requested after the release of UCR data that showed Leon county had the highest per-capita crime rate in the state of Florida for the third year in a row.

Chief DeLeo talked about the 2016 crime statistics and discussed how violent crime was down and property crime was up when compared to 2015.

He also compared crime statistics for the first five months for 2015, 2016 & 2017.

The table below shows the statistics reported during the city commission meeting for violent crime.

For 2017, Chief DeLeo reported that violent crime has increased 10.5% over the same reporting period from 2016, but was down 4.2% from the level of violent crime reported during the same period from 2015.

For property crime, DeLeo reported a 20% decrease over the same reporting period from 2016. TR is waiting for a clarification on data before reporting detailed information on property crime.

Chief DeLeo also briefed commissioners on various law enforcement initiatives.

Body Cameras

The Tallahassee Police Department is pursuing federal grant funding to implement a comprehensive body worn camera program.

The funding will also support additional personnel needed to manage the program, respond to public records requests, and maintain hardware, equipment, and storage.

The grant application was submitted in February 2017.  Awards will be announced by September 30, 2017.

Property Crimes Task Force

The TPD has partnered with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) to create a Property Crimes Task Force (PCTF) within the Tallahassee/Leon County area.  The PCTF was formed by assigning a Sergeant, two TPD investigators and two LCSO detectives.

The purpose is to identify suspects, enhance communication and share intel between the agencies allowing law enforcement to address the increase in property crimes. The officers and deputies assigned are co-located at the Tallahassee Police Department.

The task force meets with units outside of the task force to share intelligence and will utilize other units to include crime analysis, school resource deputies, and juvenile services from both LCSO and TPD along with technology from the other agencies.

Auto Theft Investigations

The Tallahassee Police Department observed the upward trend in auto thefts and as a result in early 2016 transferred an internal position from the Financial Crimes Unit to the property section for the specific purpose of investigating auto thefts.

High Risk Offenders Bureau

As part of the Five-Point plan to reduce gun violence crimes within the City of Tallahassee a Violent Crime Response Team (VCRT) was created as part of the 2015 budget.  The “team” consists of five officers and a Sergeant who focus their day to day activities solely on the reduction of gun related crimes in Tallahassee.

VCRT employs a comprehensive approach in identifying violent offenders and other at-risk individuals by utilizing the Suppression-Prevention-Intervention-Referral-Intelligence Tool (SPIRIT). VCRT members provide a custom notification letter to those individuals that could benefit from service providers in areas such as; substance abuse counseling, medical assistance, mental health counseling, and employment assistance.

In September 2016, a second VCRT squad was implemented upon being awarded a 2015 COPPS Grant after commission approval.  The department now consists of two squads providing coverage on the North and South side of Tallahassee.

In fact, recently Florida State University Criminology Professor, Brian Stults, told the Tallahassee Democrat that the presence of a significant number of college students in a community can result in crime rankings that are “very misleading, so we should be careful not to overreact.”

Understanding the rationale of this argument, TR decided to compare UCR crime statistics over the last eight years in Alachua County (pop.257,062), home of Gainesville and a major college, with the crime numbers in Leon County (pop. 287,671).

The findings raise interesting questions.

But first, a sobering statistic.

Over the last three years, Alachua County has reported 10 murders. During that same period, Leon county has reported 50 murders.

Now the analysis.

In 2009 Alachua County had a higher crime rate than Leon County. Alachua County reported 5,004 crimes per 100,000 people during 2009 while Leon County reported 4,671 crimes per 100,000 people.

As with Alachua County, Leon County’s crime numbers were driven by city incidents.

As the graph below shows, since 2009 Alachua County’s crime rate has decreased 39.7% from a rate of 5,004 to 3,582 in 2016.

During the same period, the Leon County crime rate increased 21% from 4,671 to 5,655.

A deep dive into FDLE arrest statistics show that during this period Alachua County reported a higher arrest rate than Leon county.

From 2009 through 2012, Alachua County averaged an arrest rate of  7,600 per 100,000 people. Following this four year period, the crime rate fell from 5,004 to 3,739.

In contrast, from 2009 through 2012, Leon County’s arrest rate averaged 4,319 arrests per 100,000 people – approximately 40% less than Alachua County.

The crime rate in Leon County was relatively flat during this period. However, the arrest rate fell below 4,000 in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and the crime rate spiked to number one in the state of Florida for each year.

These findings should raise questions about the impact of students on the crime rate in Tallahassee. If the presence of a major university has a negative impact on crime stats, why does that impact not show up in Alachua County?

The findings should also raises questions about Tallahassee’s law enforcement strategy. With increasing crime, why are arrests down?

However, a statistic buried in the reams of data that escaped media scrutiny was the fact that Leon county was last in the number of cases cleared. Based on FDLE documentation, the majority of cases are cleared by arrests.

The statistics show that Leon County ranks last in cases cleared with a 16.6 rate per 100 offenses.The state average in 2016 was 24.3.

A look at the trend of arrests in Leon county shows that from 2012 to 2016 the arrest rate has declined 29% while the crime rate has increased by 22% during this same period.

The chart below shows the trends in crime rate and arrest rate from 2012 -2016.

With the recent investments made by the city commission in more patrol officers and the consistent increase in crime over the last four years, it would seem logical that arrests would increase.

However, the number of arrests reached a new low in 2016.

Is this a crime fighting strategy? If so, what is the rationale?

Next TR will look at why arrests are down in Leon county and if there is evidence that shows a correlation between arrests and crime rates.

The total crime rate in the state of Florida fell by 4.4% and also fell in 41 of the state’s 67 counties.

The good news for Leon County is the violent crime rate fell 11% from a rate of 829.7 to a rate of  734.2. The state violent crime rate fell 3.5% from a rate of 455.3 to a rate of 439.2.

The violent crime rate includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

TR is evaluating the violent crime state ranking. Preliminary analysis shows Leon County ranks #1 in violent crime rate for counties with a population above 50,000.

The ten counties with the highest total crime rate are shown below. Source can viewed here.

Also, 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 9.0% increase in the crime rate while the Leon County Sheriff’s Department reported a .7% increase in the crime rate.

Tallahassee Reports has previously published stories about Tallahassee having the highest per capita crime rate in the state of Florida in 2014 and 2015. Those reports can be read here and here.

Check back for updates.