Crime on the Rise in Providence
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
While each of its peer-sized cities have had steadily declining crime rates, Providence's crime rate has gone up, according to FBI data. The data is collected from 17,000 cities, counties, and states and published by the FBI in its annual report, “Crime in the United States.” GoLocalProv broke down the data into the five most serious categories—violent crime, murder and manslaughter, robbery, burglary, and arson.
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Providence Up, While Other Cities Down
According to the 2008 data—the last year for which final data is available, Providence increased in every single category except car theft, while similar-sized New England cities like Hartford in Connecticut and Springfield and Worcester in Massachusetts saw decreases. Police in the other three cities accepted the numbers, while Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman said it was not fair to compare the 2007 and 2008 numbers for Providence. He said the FBI changed its reporting requirements, forcing Providence to use a different way of adding up the crimes in 2008, making it look like there was a more of an increase in crime from 2007 to 2008 than there really was. Check out the 2007 data for yourself here and the 2008 data here. Esserman's full response is here.
Community Policing Key
Police in the other three cities say that community-based approach to law enforcement has allowed them to keep their crime rates down during a recession, when they normally increase. Providence has adopted community policing as well, according to Esserman, who said he made it one of his top priorities when he arrived at his position in 2003. Overall, he said crime in the capital city has gone down since then.
And, he said after the increase burglaries and robberies in 2008, the incidence of those crimes went down 2009. “We got a handle on the burglaries and we got a handle on the robberies,” Esserman said. “Overall, the crime went down significantly in 2009.” The final FBI reports for that year, however, has yet to be released.
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