RI’s Most Violent Cities and Towns: New FBI Crime Data

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle

The Federal Bureau of Investigation released its 2013 crime statistics this week, estimating the number of violent crimes in the country had dropped 4.4% from 2012.  

Nationally, there were an estimated 1,163,146 violent crimes reported to law enforcement last year -- down from nearly 1,225,000 in 2012 -- along with an estimated 8,632,512 property crimes.

In Rhode Island, however, the number of violent crimes reported in 2013 -- 2,642 -- was up from 2,599 in 2012.  

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The annual report released by the FBI includes violent crimes -- murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery -- as well as property crimes including burglary, larceny/theft, and motor vehicle theft, and arson.

SLIDES See How RI Communities Ranked HERE

"It's always good to see reports when crime goes down, but as we know, there's still way too much crime and it's way too high," said State Police Superintendent Colonel Steve O'Donnell.  "Each city and town handles its own data to make their own decisions to do what they can."

O'Donnell noted that the State Police was continuing to work in tandem in urban areas.  "We collaborate with North Providence, Central Falls -- we have cars that double up with officers during time of need, so it's much less dependent on data.  And we've certainly seen an impact on the quality of the communities by doing so."

Changes in Providence -- and Reporting

In Providence, violent crime in 2013 was down from 2012, with a total of 1,115 violent crimes reported in 2013 compared with 1,133 in 2012.  

Murders were down (12 in 2013 compared to 17 in 2012); robbery was up slightly (365 in 2013 to 362 in 2012), aggravated assaulted was down (670 in 2012 to 641 in 2013), and forcible rapes were up (97 in 2013 to 84 in 2012).  

Of note in this year's FBI report, a new definition of rape had begun to be implemented as of January 1, 2013.  

"Beginning in 2013, the UCR Program began collecting rape data under a revised definition. However, not all law enforcement agencies have been able to convert their records management systems to reflect the new definition yet, so this year’s report includes data collected under the previous (or legacy) definition as well as the revised definition," wrote the FBI.  

According to the FBI, "The old definition was 'The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.' Many agencies interpreted this definition as excluding a long list of sex offenses that are  criminal in most jurisdictions, such as offenses involving oral or anal penetration, penetration with objects, and rapes of males. The new Summary definition of Rape is: 'Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” 

GoLocal spoke with Carol Tracy with the Women's Law Project, who had helped lead the effort calling for the change. 

"The reason Women's Law Project led the effort to change the FBI's definition was that it hadn't been changed since 1927 and did not reflect current state law, so the public was not properly informed of the prevalence sex crimes and crimes involving penetration," said Carol Tracy, Executive Director of the Women's Law Project.  "Major police chiefs agreed it needed to be changed and the public wasn't properly informed."

Law Enforcement Perspective

Michael Long, a police officer for the city of Cranston and a a Providence City Council candidate in this year's election, said that the statistics reported to the FBI "could play a role" in police departments -- but what that role is, depends.  

"For Cranston, and any department, we look more at micro stats, than macro stats," said Long.  "Crimereports.com shows hot spots, and real time reports -- we pay closer attention to that."

Long noted several factors that the police pay attention to in terms of crime -- one being the weather.  

"With the change of seasons, so does the type of crime," said Long.  "Warm weather, people go out, so there's higher property crime in the summer, since they're not deterred by cold or snow.  Right around Christmas, with gifts and new items, we'll see and increase in [breaking and entries]. "There's also been an increase into vacant houses for copper pipes."

"I think things have been fairly consistent in Cranston.  We did however make a stretch of arrests recently where we were catching people during the act.  That's teamwork in the community, if they call, there's a good chance we can stop someone in the act," said Long.  "There's only so many officers, every department across the state is struggling with deficits.  We have partnerships with the community, because there's only so many officers.  During the rush hour, it's almost impossible for police to be pro-active, for example, when they're on the road dealing with accidents.  So we've found community partnerships to be incredibly helpful."

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Related Slideshow: Most Violent Cities and Towns in RI According to the FBI

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