The SunPost

In all categories but one, violent crime is down in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Mayor Carlos Alvarez said Wednesday. Police made 40,000 arrests last year.

Statistics show that violent crimes overall declined 2 percent in 2007 from the previous year. Yet robberies, which are included in the category of violent crimes, increased 18 percent in 2007, capping an ongoing trend showing that robberies have escalated 13 percent in the past five years. In 2007, there were 2,760 robberies in the county — up from 2,337 in 2006.

Despite that spike, Alvarez said, violent crime is decreasing overall — forcible sex offenses dropped 12 percent, aggravated assaults 11 percent and murders 9 percent. “These are impressive results,” he said.

Violent crime has declined 7 percent since 2003.

“This time last year in Miami-Dade County we were experiencing an alarming rate in murders — particularly those murders that resulted from illicit drug trade and organized gangs in the streets of Miami-Dade County,” Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker said, noting that the department increased the police presence in the county’s “northwest corridor.”

“Murders did decrease as a result of our efforts, and they did so rather dramatically,” he said.

What does the mayor think it takes to stop a murder?

“What you do is you focus on other crimes that lead to murder, and that’s what the department has done,” he said. “And you can do that by focusing on street-level narcotics, because as we know, folks who are involved with street-level narcotics are extremely violent and they do get into confrontations, and, as a result of that, homicides occur. You do sweeps, you concentrate on people who have open warrants for narcotics, you concentrate on the gang task force and arresting as many gang members as you possibly can. You focus on robbers, because robbers are the most violent people around here, and, as a result of robberies, people a lot of times lose their lives.”

Although the number of murders spiked in 2006 with 93 victims, that number dropped in 2007 to 83. The mayor compared the recent double-digit murder statistics to those back in the days of the “cocaine cowboys.” “If you go back to 1991 — I think we had 9,000,” he said.

“Now we’ve got a challenge to make sure the robberies and burglaries don’t get out of hand,” he said, attributing the increase in those kinds of crimes to the declining economy. “People are hurting out there.”

The statistics show nonviolent crimes — burglaries, larcenies and auto thefts — increased 7 percent since 2006. There were 9,598 burglaries reported last year.

The county also has implemented a gun bounty program, rewarding those who turn in owners of illegal guns. To date, according to Alvarez, the county has seized 80 illegal guns, which have led to 43 arrests.

“As budget cuts loom, public safety will continue to be a priority,” the mayor vowed.

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