Click here to view PERF’s new publication, Violent Crime in America: A Tale of Two Cities.
This report is the third in a series on the increases in violent crime levels that began in 2005, following a decade of falling crime rates across the nation. Violent Crime in America: A Tale of Two Cities suggests that new programs and policies undertaken by local police to reverse unfavorable crime trends may be having an impact. For the first time in three years, PERF’s survey of 56 jurisdictions showed indications of decreases in homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, and aggravated assault with a firearm during the first six months of 2007, when compared to the same period in 2006.
However, the report also shows that the improvements are far from universal. The devastating increases in violent crime of 2005 and 2006, when many cities saw homicides increase 20 percent or more, are continuing in many jurisdictions.
Thus the “Tale of Two Cities”: Crime is continuing its upward trend in many jurisdictions, while in other communities there are signs that police and the residents they serve are working together and are making a difference.
The report includes the findings of PERF’s third survey of law enforcement jurisdictions regarding violent crime. PERF’s latest survey, conducted in August 2007, went beyond the statistics to ask police what they believe are the causes of violence in their communities, what programs or policies they have implemented to reduce violence, and whether they believe their programs have proved effective. The report includes many details about anti-violence initiatives across the country, as described by the people who implemented them.
The report also provides detailed coverage of PERF’s second Violent Crime Summit, held on September 26, 2007 in suburban Chicago. More than 100 police chiefs, sheriffs, mayors, U.S. Justice Department officials, and others came together at the Summit to share their experiences in fighting violent crime. The report includes special coverage of two types of anti-crime technology: closed-circuit television cameras posted throughout a jurisdiction; and “ShotSpotter” gunshot detection systems.
“One of the major shifts in policing over the last 10 years is that American police and the communities they serve are far more inclined to make dramatic changes in strategies quickly, rather than wait for crime patterns to become entrenched,” said PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler. “Police chiefs and sheriffs use timely information to identify local crime trends on a daily or weekly basis, and they respond immediately, precinct by precinct, hot spot by hot spot, to halt the damage. We hope the information in this report will help police agencies across the United States to identify the variables that cause crime to increase or recede, and to plan effective countermeasures.”
PERF is grateful to the agencies that participated in the violent crime survey and the Summit, and to all who have helped PERF document the efforts of police to work with their communities to reduce violent crime. And we would like to offer special thanks to Motorola for its continued support of the Critical Issues in Policing Series, which made PERF's violent crime research, the Violent Crime Summit, and this report possible.
Printed copies of Violent Crime in America: A Tale of Two Cities are being mailed to all PERF members.
