Overall crime rate dips, but violent crimes up

Though overall crime rates in Missouri for 2006 were down from previous years, law enforcement agencies statewide reported a jump in violent offenses.

In 2006, there were 1,859 fewer total crimes recorded in Missouri than in 2005, but 1,557 more violent offenses reported, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol statistics.

A total of 31,922 violent crimes and 233,349 property crimes were reported in Missouri in 2006.

Of the six offenses that state reporting guidelines designate as violent crimes, there were more robberies, aggravated assaults, manslaughter cases and forcible rapes in Missouri in 2006 than in each of the two previous years. The numbers for criminal homicide and attempted rape reported in 2006 decreased slightly from the previous year.

Nonviolent crimes were property-related offenses, such as arson, burglary, thefts and motor vehicle thefts.

Illinois State Police announced last week that the overall crime rate for Illinois had fallen by 2.1 percent in 2006, with the biggest drops being in a 6.6 percent decrease in criminal sexual assault numbers and 4.7 percent decline in motor vehicle thefts. Aggravated assault and battery also decreased by 3.4 percent.

Yet the numbers of murders and robberies recorded went up, according to a news release from the Illinois State Police. Robbery increased by nearly 2 percent for the second consecutive year.

"Our goal continues to be a significant decrease in all of the reported offenses," said state police director Larry G. Trent in a prepared statement.

Advances in technology and communication enable law enforcement agencies to better report crime and compile data, Trent said.

Cape Girardeau County seemed to mirror state statistics. Police recorded 2,918 crimes in 2006, which was 102 fewer than the previous year. However, 347 violent crimes were reported last year, up from 288 in 2005.

In Cape Girardeau, 42 more violent offenses were reported in 2006 than the year before. The overall number of crimes recorded decreased by 110.

Aggravated assault had the biggest increase, with 44 more offenses reported to Cape Gir­ardeau police in 2006 than in 2005. One more robbery was reported, but four fewer rapes.

One possible reason for the increase in aggravated assaults is a tightening of the standards police use in reporting crime to the state police database, said Cpl. Jason Selzer, spokesman for the Cape Girardeau police.

In previous years, the only aggravated assaults police categorized as such were those in which there was some degree of harm involved, but now only the intention of harm constitutes an aggravated assault under the Uniform Crime Reporting Program governed by state police, Selzer said.

"Numbers are counted more accurately than in the past," he said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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