By Ed Somers
October 23, 2006

“For a growing number of cities across the United States, violent crime is accelerating at an alarming pace.” This was a key finding of a draft report released by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) October 13 entitled A Gathering Storm: Violent Crime in America.

As previously reported in USMAYOR, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) annual Uniform Crime Report for 2005 showed a significant increase in violent crime throughout the country compared to 2004. Nationwide, homicides increased by 3.4 percent, robberies by 3.9 percent and aggravated assaults by 1.8 percent.

According to the PERF report, “This rise in violent crime was experienced in all areas of the country,” and, “The FBI statistics reflect the largest single year percent increase in violent crime in 14 years.”

To see if this trend was continuing, PERF surveyed 55 law enforcement agencies of varying sizes between August and October 2006, asking for statistics regarding the number of homicides, robberies and aggravated assaults that occurred in their jurisdiction from January to June of 2006.

According to PERF, “the results of the survey indicated the volatility of crime increases over 2004 – 2006 was a mixture of significant increases with some decreases as police agencies responded to crime spikes.”

In the 55 cities during the first half of 2006:

• Homicides rose 4.24 percent, representing 103 more murders.

• Robberies rose by 9.71 percent, an increase of 6,445 more robberies.

• Aggravated assaults rose slightly, less than one percent, representing 112 more assaults.

“We have a gathering storm of crime,” said Los Angeles Police Chief PERF President William Bratton. Chief Bratton issued this warning August 30 at PERF’s National Violent Crime Summit, in which The U.S. Conference of Mayors participated, including Conference President Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido and Conference Vice President Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer.

Key findings from the Summit include:

• Many officials described a culture of violence, concentrated in parts of their cities, where arguments over seemingly minor issues escalate to the retaliatory murder of additional people.

• Cities reported that their successful efforts to suppress drug markets had the unintended consequence of increasing street robberies for criminal enterprises.

• Gang problems in the jurisdictions represented at the Summit varied in affiliation and organization. In some cities, gangs are disorganized and take their identity from the neighborhood, while others like MS-13 are internationally connected.

• Officials from one part of the country to the other complained about the proliferation of handguns - a situation that could worsen if proposed federal legislation is passed that would restrict the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE) from sharing gun tracing information with local law enforcement agencies.

• Many of the representatives reported that much of the violent crime is disproportionately impacting sections of the African-American and Hispanic communities.

• More and more offenders who have spent time in a juvenile or an adult detention facility return to their communities—often poorly prepared in their previous work experience or education.

• From coast to coast, officials described a need for early intervention and many pointed to school and truancy programs that were initiated or reactivated.

• A number of localities are focusing their resources on hot spots and focused deterrence.

• In many jurisdictions, the redirection of federal resources to homeland security has left cities more vulnerable to spikes in violent crime.

In response to the increase in crime, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced the launch of the “Initiative for Safer Communities” during a recent meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Boston. The initiative will, “target violent crime prevention efforts in selected communities across America that have shown unexplained increases in crime.”

According to the Justice Department, this will be a three'stage initiative.

The first stage, to begin over the next several weeks, will investigate the increase in crime experienced by representative cities. In this phase, DOJ will conduct a detailed survey and visit local law enforcement in impacted areas to identify possible factors contributing to the increase.

The second phase will focus on policy development by analyzing the findings of the investigative phase to identify the roots of the localized increases in crime.

The third phase will focus on matching localized results with established federal programs that are proven to be effective in combating crime and, where necessary, creating new initiatives.

“The Department of Justice is committed to making sure that every American city and town can share in the success of low violent crime rates,” said Attorney General Gonzales.

According to DOJ, the cities to be examined in the investigative phase of the Initiative are still being finalized, but both cities which have experienced increases in crime and significant decreases in crime will be studied, in order to best ascertain which crime-prevention tactics have been most effective.

Over the past several years, funding for key federal-local crime programs has been drastically reduced. The COPS hiring funding has been eliminated, and the Administration FY 2007 budget calls for elimination of several block grants. It is not yet clear if the initiative will impact the Administration’s budget recommendations for FY 2008.