Missouri city shares lowest homicide rate in nation last year

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- St. Joseph shared the nation's lowest homicide rate last year while Columbia experienced an unusual spike in killings, newly released FBI statistics show. Crime fell for most of Missouri compared to five years ago.

Only the Springfield metropolitan area's total crime rate exceeded figures from 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report issued last week said.

Robbery and car theft rates rose in that area, which includes Greene, Christian and Webster counties, while homicide and burglary rates fell, according to the report.

Andrew and Buchanan counties had no murders or accidental killings last year, placing the St. Joseph area in a 12-way tie for the nation's lowest reported homicide rate.

"I wish I could give you the magic potion that we used to get our homicides down to zero last year," said Sgt. Ron Gordon, crime analyst for the St. Joseph police. "But I think it was just kind of the luck of the draw."

Columbia had the state's lowest unemployment rate last year and was ranked No. 2 in Money magazine's 1999 list of the best small cities.

But a spate of killings, including a triple slaying in November, pushed the region's homicide rate to 28th highest of the 268 metropolitan areas in the report. In 1995, the area's rate was 192nd highest.

"2000 was an abnormal year," said Columbia police Sgt. Stephen Monticelli, supervisor of the major crimes unit. "Whenever you have three deaths in one episode, it's a tragedy and it surely raises the number,"

Violent crime dips

For St. Louis and Kansas City, the FBI report contains crime figures for only those cities, not their metropolitan areas, because less than 75 percent of the regions' police departments provided data. So, the cities' crime rates are not comparable to the regions in the report.

In St. Louis, the 2000 violent crime rate fell substantially from 1995 figures, buttressed by sharp declines in rape and homicide, the report shows.

Significant reductions in robbery and rape helped lower Kansas City's 2000 violent crime rate compared to five years ago despite a slight increase in homicides.

Figures for last year show overall crime rates fell for both cities from 1995.