FBI stats show increase in killings in SB

Robert Rogers, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/22/2008 08:53:56 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO - When 2007 was barely over, police and political leaders were flush with confidence in their fight against crime.

Statistics provided by the Police Department in February seemed to indicate most crimes at historic lows, and Mayor Pat Morris declared his anti-crime platform - Operation Phoenix - a key part of the success.

But final statistics released by the FBI last week put the same numbers in a different context and show the crime front wasn't quite so rosy.

Despite all the spending on anti-crime efforts over the past three years - including a new helicopter, dozens more police officers and saturation patrols - San Bernardino remains among the state's deadliest cities.

The city had the state's fourth-most murders per capita in 2007, trailing only Oakland, Richmond and Compton.

In February, Police Chief Michael Billdt tabulated historical data, and Morris was quick to comment to local newspapers about how the city was in one of its safest periods ever.

On Monday, Lt. Scott Paterson, the department's spokesman, said department leaders have never taken crime lightly or spun the issue to the public.

"Never have we minimized the crime in this city," Paterson said. "The chief, the mayor and the department were pointing to the significant progress we've made, they were thanking the men and women of the department and the stakeholders in the city."

With 45 murders in 2007, the murder rate stood at 2.24 per 10,000 people. By comparison, 23 murders were committed in 1999, when the city's population was 189,133. That's a rate of 1.22 per 10,000 people - about half of the 2007 rate.

When other crimes were factored in, however, the overall violent-crime rate in 2007 was lower than in any year since 1985, thanks to drops in other crimes outweighing the historically high homicide rate.

Criminologists typically cite criminal homicide numbers as the most important figure in measuring big-city crime because it cannot be affected by under-reporting or other statistical vagaries.

Thus far this year, the city has had 26 homicides, 24 classified as murders, including two last weekend, numbers that are behind last year's pace.

But not everyone was convinced when Morris and others touted a 2007 crime drop earlier this year. Nor are they persuaded now.

"Crime is up around here," said E.J. Ford, a 55-year-old resident from his porch in "The Projects," a Westside neighborhood. The night before, gunfire killed an 18-year-old man Ford said he watched grow up on those rugged streets.

"People are tense. You hear gunshots," Ford said. "I've known a lot of people who've been killed out here."

Councilwoman Wendy McCammack, a frequent Morris critic, said statistics Morris and Billdt cite are suspect.

"My biggest concern when crime stats are discussed is, are they being skewed or described in such a way that gives people a false sense of security?" McCammack said. "My second concern is it appears to me, based on the amount of crime I know exists where I live and work, that quite a few crimes are going unreported. You can claim that you're safer now than in the past 20 years, but that's based on stats that have no validity if crime is under- reported or reclassified."

In 1997, police recorded 16,265 violent crimes, compared to 12,242 in 2007, a drop of 25 percent. Yet 2007 saw 45 murders, 20 percent more than in 1997, a disparity some see as troubling.

Police leaders have stood by the statistics as an accurate depiction of crime in the community.

Paterson said Monday the city's crime fight is far from over, but he praised the department's work in driving it down.

"We've made a significant impact on things with proactive enforcement," Paterson said. "Is it done? No, we're not done. We have a lot of work to do."
RISE IN KILLINGS

2007: 45 murders, or 2.24 murders per 10,000 people

1999: 23 murders, or 1.22 murders per 10,000 people