Crime in Birmingham

Special issue of Black & White on Birmingham crime

Crime in Birmingham is a primary issue.

The Birmingham Police Department provides semi-annual statistics for various categories of reported crime by precinct. These statistics are forwarded, as "Uniform Crime Reports" to the Federal Bureau of Investigation which compiles an annual publication entitled Crime in the United States. Despite the FBI's disclaimers that UCR data is unsuited to making comparisons between cities, its publications are used by private publishers to generate crime rankings [1].

The 14th Edition of the Congressional Quarterly Press' City Crime Rankings identified Birmingham as the sixth most dangerous city in the United States (while the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area came in at 37th among metro areas).

2007

Overall, occurrences of major crimes increased 3% from 2006 to 2007. Robberies increased the most, at 13% (1,609 compared to 1,429) while rape, burglary, theft and auto theft rose slightly. Homicides, in contrast, fell 15% from 2006 (93 in 2007 vs 109 in 2006) and aggravated assaults decreased slightly. When reported to the FBI, only those homicides determined by police and prosecutors to be murder or non-negligent manslaughter are counted. Using that definition, Birmingham experienced 86 murders in 2007 compared to 104 in 2006 (a 17% drop).

Birmingham's 2007 homicide rate (38 per 100,000) ranked sixth on the FBI's report of cities issued on September 15, 2008. The cities with the highest rates were New Orleans, Richmond, Detroit, Baltimore and St Louis.

Crimes reported to the FBI for 2007 included the following (with % change since 2006) [2]:

• Violent crimes: 3,320 (+4.6%)

• Murders: 86 (-17.3%)
• Forcible rapes: 229 (+4.1%)
• Robberies: 1,609 (+12.6%)
• Aggravated assaults: 1,396 (-1.8%)

• Property crimes: 19,638 (+3.3%)

• Burglaries: 4,864 (+1.1%)
• Larcenies/thefts: 12,528 (+3.4%)
• Auto thefts: 2,246 (+7.9%)
• Arsons: 221 (-3.1%)

In November 2007 the department provided some information broken down by precinct, showing that the eastern and northern sections of the city were seeing that biggest increases while the south and west saw minor decreases in reports of violent crime:

• South Precinct
  • "major crimes" January - October (4,319)
  • Violent crimes (2,942) down 5%
    • Homicides (9)
    • Rapes (31)
    • Robberies (196)
    • Aggravated assaults (108)
    • Burglaries (476)
    • Thefts (1,812)
    • Auto thefts (310) up 10%
• West Precinct
  • "major crimes" January - October (5,378)
  • Violent crimes, down 3%
• East Precinct
  • "major crimes" January - October (5,424)
  • Violent crimes, up 16%
• North Precinct
  • "major crimes" January - October (3,386)
  • Violent crimes, up 8%

During 2007 the Birmingham Police vice and narcotics unit carried out 317 warranted searches and 722 vice operations, leading to 955 felony arrests and 2,052 misdemeanor arrests.

2006

Crimes reported to the FBI for 2006 included the following [3]:

• Violent crimes: 3,175 (-8.6%)

• Murders: 104 (unchanged)
• Forcible rapes: 220 (-9.5%)
• Robberies: 1,429 (unchanged)
• Aggravated assaults: 1,422 (-17.8%)

• Property crimes: 19,007 (+0.4%)

• Burglaries: 4,813 (-2.5%)
• Larcenies/thefts: 12,113 (+1.3%)
• Auto thefts: 2,081 (+2.5%)
• Arsons: 228 (+40.4%)

2005

Crimes reported to the FBI for 2005 included the following [4]:

• Violent crimes: 3,449 (+5.5%)

• Murders: 104 (+43.3%)
• Forcible rapes: 241 (+0.4%)
• Robberies: 1,429 (+4.2%)
• Aggravated assaults: 1,675 (+4.9%)

• Property crimes: 18,923 (-2.8%)

• Burglaries: 4,933 (-4.5%)
• Larcenies/thefts: 11,962 (-0.1%)
• Auto thefts: 2,028 (-15.9%)
• Arsons: 136 (-4.4%)

Homicides increased dramatically, accompanied by more modest upswings in robberies and assaults while most other crime categories saw significant declines.

2004

Crimes reported to the FBI for 2004 included the following [5]:

• Violent crimes: 3,261 (-2.6%)

• Murders: 59 (-44.1%)
• Forcible rapes: 240 (+15.0%)
• Robberies: 1,369 (+1.2%)
• Aggravated assaults: 1,593 (-7.1%)

• Property crimes: 19,447 (-0.7%)

• Burglaries: 5,156 (+15.0%)
• Larcenies/thefts: 11,970 (+0.3%)
• Auto thefts: 2,351 (-19.5%)
• Arsons: 142 (-23.2%)

2003

Crimes reported to the FBI for 2003 included the following [6]:

• Violent crimes: 3,347 (-4.8%)

• Murders: 85 (+23.5%)
• Forcible rapes: 204 (-17.2%)
• Robberies: 1,352 (+12.3%)
• Aggravated assaults: 1,706 (+0.5%)

• Property crimes: 19,574 (-6.6%)

• Burglaries: 4,381 (-0.2%)
• Larcenies/thefts: 11,934 (+2.5%)
• Auto thefts: 2,809 (+27.1%)
• Arsons: 175 (-20.6%)

2002

Crimes reported to the FBI for 2002 included the following [7]:

• Violent crimes: 3,187

• Murders: 65
• Forcible rapes: 239
• Robberies: 1,186
• Aggravated assaults: 1,697

• Property crimes: 18,289

• Burglaries: 4,389
• Larcenies/thefts: 11,640
• Auto thefts: 2,049
• Arsons: 211

1994

• • Homicides (135)
  • Rapes
  • Robberies (nearly 2,000)
  • Aggravated assaults (4,237)
  • Burglaries
  • Thefts (over 16,000)
  • Auto thefts (nearly 4,000)

See also

• Birmingham homicides by year

References

• Pelfrey, David (October 4, 2007) "Crime by the numbers." Black & White
• Robinson, Carol (October 10, 2007) "Crime down 5% in South Precinct." Birmingham News
• Norris, Toraine and Jeremy Gray (January 13, 2007) "Crime fight grows in Southside hot spots." Birmingham News
• Robinson, Carol (February 20, 2008) "Crime in Birmingham up in 2007." Birmingham News
• Gray, Jeremy (June 10, 2008) "Birmingham had slight increase in violent crimes in 2007, according to FBI report." Birmingham News
• Robinson, Carol (September 15, 2008) "Birmingham ranks among top violent cities on FBI crime list." Birmingham News

External links

• Victims of Birmingham Crime on MySpace.com
• CQ Press 2007 Safest City Award