FBI crime reports drop in C.R. and U.S.

CEDAR RAPIDS - A summary of violent and property crimes reported to the FBI through the first half of the year shows a decline in criminal behavior both nationally and locally.

Violent crime on a national level dropped 6.4 percent, while property crime fell 3.7 percent, according to the FBI's preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, which includes statistics compiled from January through June.

Cedar Rapids saw its violent crime reports drop from 193 to 160, or 17 percent. The city's robbery category experienced the biggest percentage drop of 50 percent, with 61 robbery reports during the first half of last year falling to 30 reports during that period this year.

Cedar Rapids Police Chief Greg Graham credits the decline, in part, to police persistence.

“We have a bunch of men and women in the police department who are dedicated to fighting crime, and we have a community that supports us and helps us,” he said.

The city's overall property crime numbers slid from 2,246 during the first half of last year to 2,111 in that period this year, with marked improvements in larceny and motor vehicle theft.

Cedar Rapids crime, however, did increase in one category. Burglary reports climbed modestly from 439 to 452, and Graham said the department is reviewing data and tracking people who it believes are repeat offenders.

“We try to arrest the right people,” he said. “Right now we are having some residential burglaries that we believe are connected, and we hope to get the guys in jail pretty soon.”

The decrease in FBI crime reports continues a downward trend both locally and nationally, according to federal statistics. Violent crime on a national level dropped 6.2 percent from the first half of 2009 to the same period last year, and the 2009 number was 4.4 percent lower than in 2008.

Cedar Rapids reports also have been dropping in recent years. There were 379 violent crime reports in all of 2010, compared with 403 reports in 2009 and 448 in 2008 - the year a historic flood devastated the city.

That's not the direction the numbers usually go after a natural disaster, Graham said.

“To go basically three years in a row since the flood with a decrease in crime is something for the entire community to be proud of,” he said. “We haven't eliminated crime, which is what our goal is, but we've got to be pleased with the direction.”

Cedar Rapids and Des Moines were the only two Iowa communities singled out in the FBI's semiannual report, but Iowa City also has seen an annual drop in the past few years. It had 183 violent crime reports in all of 2010, compared with 245 in 2009 and 257 in 2008.

Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine said, however, that he believes crime is cyclical, and there are ebbs and flows that could have reports on the rise in subsequent years.

“It never stays in one spot,” he said. “And my guess is that if the economy continues to worsen, we'll see it go back up.”