The Year in Crime

Crime increased countywide last year. How safe is your neighborhood?

By Angie Hargot

It’s a sobering ratio.

While the city of Miami claims just 16 percent of the county’s population, 34 percent of the murders countywide occurred within its borders last year.

The rest of Miami-Dade County experienced some jumps, especially in property crimes. Overall crime increased 6.7 percent countywide in 2007, according to recently released Florida Department of Law Enforcement data.

That means last year, Miami-Dade County residents were 5.6 percent more likely to become a victim of a crime, particularly those involving theft, than the year before.

In 2007, the county experienced 228 murders — a 5 percent drop from the 240 homicides in 2006. There were 725 rapes reported, 97 fewer than in the previous year, fewer assaults and an almost unchanged number of motor vehicle thefts. However, there was an 18 percent increase in robberies, an 8 percent increase in burglaries and a nearly 9 percent increase in larcenies countywide.

Still, despite those increases, police departments throughout Miami-Dade County arrested 5 percent fewer people — 132,166 — in 2007.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest changes in crime countywide, according to the FDLE, during the last year.

Miami

Although the city of Miami had reported decreases in crime for the last several years, including significant declines in burglary and larceny theft, crime increased 4.1 percent overall in 2007.

While rapes decreased by 44 percent, Miami robberies spiked 20 percent in 2007, burglaries increased by almost 9 percent and larceny increased 4 percent. The city’s murder and motor vehicle theft rates remained virtually unchanged, with 78 murders in the city — just one more than in 2006. There was a 5 percent decrease in the number of aggravated assaults reported in Miami, 1 percent fewer arrests — 37,373 — and a 1 percent drop in the number of cases cleared.

Miami Beach

Although crime in Miami Beach had dropped 6 percent in 2006, it increased 2 percent overall last year. Although the number of murders stayed the same at four, rapes notably decreased by 28 percent, to 58 compared to the 81 reported in the previous year. Aggravated assault, burglary and car thefts also decreased. However, the city’s 93,721 residents experienced more robberies and larcenies.

The surges

The highest spikes in crime, though, occurred in some of the county’s smaller communities. Crime jumped 25 percent in the roughly 19,000-resident village of Pinecrest, 23 percent in the similarly sized city of Sunny Isles Beach and 17.5 percent in Hialeah Gardens.

“If you look at our history of crime data, last year was abnormally low — the lowest in seven years,” said Pinecrest Chief of Police John Hohensee. “We’ve returned to normal with a little more. There’s not a lot of violent crime, mostly property crime. Of course, no one wants to get their stuff stolen. We had some significant apprehensions of [individuals] robbing construction sites and [those robberies] dropped right off.”

Hohensee has been paying close attention to the increase in property crimes, and warns residents to secure their valuables.

“People get lax,” Hohensee said. “One thing I wish I could get people to stop doing is leaving desirable things visible. We warn people all the time, and if one area is being highly targeted, we can sit on it, but it’s very widespread.”

Tourist-heavy Sunny Isles Beach experienced a similar rise in opportunity crimes.

“Violent crime went up a little, and burglaries went down, and there was an increase in simple assaults,” said Sunny Isles Beach Police Department spokesperson Tom Hopkins, who offered another insight into that city’s 22 percent jump: There weren’t that many crimes to begin with. “Larceny increased [from 275 to 437]. A lot of these crimes are tools stolen from vehicles; there’s been a rash of stolen motorcycles. GPS monitors, PDAs, cell phones and laptop computers left in people’s cars. A lot more people in the city and a lot more hotels mean more opportunity thefts.”

Crime in that city, with 18,747 residents, increased just more than 3 percent from the previous year. Hopkins said the city’s most troubling jump, an almost 60 percent increase in larcenies, could be lowered by old-fashioned diligence.

“People go to the beach and leave their purses out on the beach,” he said. “If you leave your stuff out, it’s going to get stolen.”

And in unincorporated Miami-Dade, crime overall increased 3.8 percent.

Although the Miami-Dade Police Department, which patrols those areas, reported a slightly lower number of murders (84 in 2007, compared to 98 in 2006), forcible rapes, aggravated assaults and motor vehicle thefts, it did report higher instances of robberies, burglaries and larcenies.

Crime escalated in Broward County, too. Countywide, it rose 6 percent. In Hollywood, it rose 7.8 percent, with a notable spike in murder: 13 homicides in 2007 and only eight in 2006. In Hallandale Beach, crime increased 7 percent, the same percentage increase as in 2006.

And Dania Beach experienced a 9.5 percent increase, a disappointing development for a city where crime had decreased 11 percent overall the previous year.

The reductions

Still, some Miami-Dade cities experienced notable decreases in crime. Crime declined 16.2 percent overall in Homestead, which has more than 57,000 residents; 10.3 percent in 11,433-resident Key Biscayne; and 17.2 percent in Biscayne Park, which has 3,328 residents.

“We call for partnerships within the community,” said Key Biscayne Police Chief Charles R. Press. “We have another 22,000 eyes. Petty thieves are getting the message that crime is not acceptable on the Key.”

Press added that an effective officer-to-citizen ratio, community diligence and the small size of the island all contribute to the diminished crime rate. In Miami Beach, where Press previously worked as an officer, “we could have only dreamed of numbers like [those in Key Biscayne’s],” he said

Comments? E-mail angie@miamisunpost.com