Rochester has had 29 homicides so far in 2011.
It’s important to keep tabs on the number of homicides because every act of violence is an act against the community. Homicides have real human and financial costs to society. Homicides are also a reflection on our culture.
We’ve had 29 homicides too many in 2011, but it’s a far lower number than this city has seen in the past.
I looked up the city’s past homicide totals using the FBI’s crime tool. The years 1991, 1993 and 1994 all saw more than 60 homicides.
Overall, the data shows violent crime ebbing and flowing the past three decades. From 1985 to 1995, we had more than 1,000 violent crimes per 100,000 residents each year. The following 10 years saw violent crime drop, with the period between 1999 and 2002 being the least violent since 1985.
Homicides crept again in 2003, leading prompting the
New York Times to write about our per capita murder rate. The year 2006 had the worst violent crime rate since 1985, including homicides, rapes, robberies and assaults. That year we had 49 homicides.
Data after 2009 isn’t available on the website, but the police chief has pointed to statistics showing a big drop in violent crime in the last couple years.
Twenty-nine homicides makes this one of Rochester’s least violent years. But the data shows the slowdown may not last.
Rachel Barnhart
