Overall crime down in BR

• By JARED JANES
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 23, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Overall major crime in the first six months of this year is lower than any other first half since 1999, thanks in part to new technology and increases in the number of police officers, a Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman said Friday.

Total major crime dropped more than 8 percent in the first six months of this year compared to last year’s first half figures, according to statistics released Friday by the Baton Rouge Police Department.

Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman Sgt. Don Kelly said overall major crime has been declining for 18 months since the department adjusted to a population increase from the hurricanes.

“It’s a good affirmation of a continuing trend,” Kelly said. “This is another example of where we’re headed in the right direction.”

Crimes against persons — murder, rape, robbery and assault — dropped about 6 percent from the first six months of 2007. Crimes against property — burglary, larceny, arson and motor vehicle theft — fell about 9 percent from the first half of last year.

The only crime category that saw a significant increase was rapes, which went up more than 50 percent. There were 24 rapes in the first half of last year compared to 38 this year.

Kelly attributed the increase in rapes to historically low figures in the first half of 2007.

Murders, which ended last year with the highest total since 1993, fell the first half of this year from 32 in 2007 to 25 this year.

Kelly said it’s difficult to determine an exact cause for the drop in overall crime, which at 7,252 is the lowest total since at least 1999. He added that the decline is “encouraging” when coupled with increases in population since Hurricane Katrina.

He said cooperation from the community has been integral in the decline in overall crime and helps keep the police department’s crime clearance rates  above the national average for cities of similar size.

The city-parish has also made crime fighting a priority by purchasing the newest technology and adding officers to the department, Kelly said. The city recently started installing shot spotters cameras in high-crime neighborhoods that can identify when gunshots are fired and immediately dispatch officers to the area.

Since 2006, Kelly said, the department added 75 officers — about a 10 percent increase — by filling open positions and hiring new ones.

There is a “direct correlation” between the number of officers on the street and the crime rate, Kelly said. Those officers have two basic roles: to prevent crime by acting as a deterrent and to identify and arrest offenders if a crime is committed.