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Murder rate historically low in East End and Richmond
08/10/2011 2:35 PM by John M
There have been only three murders so far this year in the East End and 18 city-wide. Richmond is on track for the lowest total and per capita killings since 1961, with numbers on par with the 1940s/50s.
Last year at this time, the East End had seen 10 killings. In 2009 there were 9, in 2008 also 9, and 6 in 2007 – and these are among the lowest years on record. At the other end of the spectrum, there were 22 killings in the East End by mid-August in 1994, 17 in 2006 and 2005, and 20 in 2004. In 2011: 3.
TAGGED: crime
I love it! Thx for the good news, John!
Who can afford bullets?
@ BKW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuX-nFmL0II I guess they raised the price of bullets too…
Murder is not an accurate description of how unsafe parts of the east end are. This does not take into account the shootings where people live and other violent crime. Still a dangerous place and the police still have much work to do.
How do number of shootings compare? If it’s just good luck that more folks haven’t died, I’d hold off on celebrating as luck can turn. If there are actually fewer people pulling triggers, this is good news.
The police department site doesn’t provide an easy way of getting the data for aggravated assaults. From receiving the daily crime reports over the past few years, I’d say that anecdotally the shooting seems down, but I’ve got no numbers for this. I think that this is more than luck.
Why are the murder rates lower? Any ideas?
The first drop a few years ago I heard attributed to a few things. Sector policing was put in place in 2005. There has also been a push to get suspected shooters off of the streets quickly, before there can be retribution or more killings.
This year, though, seems to be something different and bigger than that.
Kaykay – perhaps partly the upside of gentrification?
Just wondering – has there been a decrease in the drug dealing? Some areas that used to be open air markets seem to have calmed down a lot. Back in the mid-nineties, most of the murders were drug related.
Brad, perhaps? That, and hopefully we really do have a “neighborhood watch” that is showing signs of success.
Rather than “gentrification”, how about the return of the “middle class”?
I lived in the 300 Block of 27th St in the late ’80’s. We didn’t need cable TV. All we needed to do was look out the window for entertainment. We had our own personal “Cops” and “CSI” every week.
For some more data, check out On murder in Richmond (1971-2010) and this PDF with numbers going back to 1934.
via NBC12:
The murder rate is irrelevant to me, most of the time the victim in some way contributed to their death, either by being a drug dealer, gang member or doing something to piss off the killer. People who are 100% innocent getting murdered is pretty rare.
What does bother me, that doesn’t get the media attention, is the ridiculous number of non-fatal shootings in CH this summer. That is how people totally innocent get hit with a stray bullet, and this year there have been way too many bullets flying around even if they so far haven’t been hitting anyone most of the time.