Crime Statistics the Five Cities

Crime Statistics

The five cities selected for crime-rate comparison were Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado, Palm Beach County, Florida; Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina; and Austin, Texas. Of those cities, Charlotte-Mecklenburg had a much greater incidence of violent crime than the other cities, while Tucson had a greater incidence of property crime than the other cities. Denver's property crime rate was the lowest, while the property crime rate in Denver and Palm Beach County was lower than the other cities, depending on the year. The violent crime rate appeared relatively steady in the cities, though Denver saw a tremendous increase in violent crime in the year 2004. The property crime rate saw a general increase in the cities, except for Palm Beach County, which demonstrated a significant drop in property crime from 2000 to 2004.

The website for the Tucson Police Department contains information on services, employment, crime statistics, and the Most Wanted. It also provides the user with the ability to search the site in a variety of methods. These search methods reveals general statistics, but can also be used to access full incident reports. The website reveals that the Tucson Police Department does utilize crime analysis units. Furthermore, the website shows some of the Tucson crime maps, which reveals that the Tucson Police Department does utilize crime maps. Those maps include: violent crime, property crime, burglary, auto theft, narcotics, domestic violence, and criminal damage. (Tucson Police Department). Compared to the other cities investigated, Tucson had an unusually high property crime rate. However, it is important to note that crime rates are impacted by a variety of factors, including crime-reduction efforts by police and victims, which make it more likely those individual criminal incidents will be reported, causing an apparent increase in the crime rates. As one might expect, this difference in reporting will be more dramatic for property crimes than for violent crimes, where police are often contacted by third parties, such as emergency medical service providers. Tucson does appear to be engaged in heighten crime-prevention efforts; for example, the Tucson Police Department website offers victims the ability to report crimes online, which may make it more likely that individual crimes will be reported.

The Denver Police Department website contains information for hiring, crime prevention, crime statistics, crime stoppers, special operations, and crime statistics. While one can search the Denver Police Department website, it is not as user friendly as the Tucson Police Department's website. However, the Denver Police Department does have an online crime reporting feature. In addition, one can look up criminal records online. The website makes it clear that the Denver Police Department does engage in crime analysis. Although the Denver Police Department does not show maps, it does have the crime statistics broken down by neighborhood. They are broken down into specific violent crimes, including: homicide, sexual assault, and aggravated assault. They also have statistics for specific property crimes, such as larceny and arson. Like Tucson, some of Denver's crime rate may be explainable by the fact that crimes can be reported online. One of the more interesting aspects of Denver's website was that it showcased community involvement; the first article on the homepage touted a citizen award. (Denver Police Department).

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's department also maintains a website. First, it is important to understand the demographics of Palm Beach County; a largely urban area composed of smaller mini-cities, it mimics the landscape of traditional urban and suburban areas. However, the website belies a difference from Tucson and Denver; the welcome page is all about community involvement and crime prevention, which may be responsible for Palm Beach County's relatively low property and violent crime rates. Many of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office efforts are community based, and are aimed at safety. For example, they sponsored car seat events and had easily accessible juvenile-justice links. (Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office). However, it was more difficult to access statistics on the website. In fact, while each district had some statistical information available on their individual websites, the author was unable to locate any centralized crime statistics. However, it would be inappropriate to conclude that the absence of available statistics means that the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office does not engage in analysis or crime mapping; they simply have not chosen to make that information available online.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg website is not as flashy or welcoming as the previous sites. However, it is extremely user friendly and offers a wide variety of services on the homepage. Like Denver and Tucson, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department allows victims to report crimes online. They also provide easy online access to a wide array of services, inkling: crime mapping, traffic accident locations and crash reporting, crime reports, 911 reports, significant events, victim resources, and homeland security. (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department). In addition, the police department provides information on crime statistics on its homepage, reporting the changes in the rates of violent crimes, property crimes, and all arrests. (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department). Interestingly, the website provided monthly and yearly statistics, which allowed the visitor to observe both macro and micro changes. It is clear that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department engaged in analysis and engaged in crime mapping. Even more clear is that it used its analysis to guide its crime prevention programs. As a result, it is difficult to determine the reason for the area's high-crime rate. The city's analysis appeared to me more thorough than the similarly-situated cities that were studied. However, whether the thorough analysis was prompted by an existing high crime rate, or whether it simply resulted in a greater proportion of crimes being reported and detected, is impossible to determine from the website alone. However, the trends after 2004 suggest that the initially high crime rates were the result of better policing efforts, and that the area can expect to see a decline in the overall crime rate.

Of all of the websites visited, the Austin Police Department was the least visually impressive and appeared low-tech in comparison with the other websites. That fact came as a surprise to the author, who associated Austin with a high-tech environment. However, the website does make current and historical crime statistics available to the visitor. (Austin Police Department). The current statistics discuss events within the last 18 months.