West leads boost in violent crimes

HOUSTON — Driven by a surge in robberies, violent crimes nationwide rose 3.7 percent for the first half of 2006, with the West leading the increase, the FBI reported Monday. But property crime was down 2.6 percent.

Robberies reported to the authorities were up 9.7 percent, murders were up 1.4 percent and arson was up 6.8 percent, the FBI said in its summary. Rape was largely unchanged.

Reflecting a surge in crime in Texas after the dislocations of Hurricane Katrina, Houston recorded a sharp increase in homicides, to 202 for the first half of 2006, up from 158 in the comparable prestorm period last year. Three Texas cities ranked among the nation's top 10 in crimes per capita.

Homicides in Dallas were down to 101 from 106, but it still ranked as the nation's most crime-ridden big city, with 3,985 overall crimes per 100,000 population, followed by Houston with 3,444. After Phoenix with 3,436, San Antonio was 4th with 3,422. Los Angeles ranked 8th with 1,730, and New York was 10th with 1,187.

Lt. Vernon Hale, a spokesman for the Dallas Police Department, said the rankings were subject to differences in how cities classified crimes, adding, "We overreport." Through November, he said, overall crime in Dallas compared with last year was down nearly 10 percent, with violent crime down nearly 3 percent. "We think things are getting better," Hale said.

In New York, where homicides were up to 266 from 238 last year, Paul J. Browne, the chief police spokesman, said a dozen or more killings were actually "reclassifications" of old crimes that became homicides when the victims died this year. Overall crime in the city was down 7 percent and violent crime down 3 percent for the first half of the year, Browne said.

The oldest and largest police chiefs' organization said the figures proved that law enforcement agencies were stretched too thin.

"They all have new responsibilities since 9/11," said Gene Voegtlin, legislative counsel for the group, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, in Alexandria, Va. He said that since 1997, federal grants to local police agencies had decreased to $890 million from $2.4 billion.

"There are some disturbing indications" in the half-year figures, Voegtlin said, but cautioned, "It's hard to draw general conclusions."

Violent crime for the period had been on a downward trend: 3.1 percent in 2003, 2 percent in 2004, and half a percent last year.

The West led the increase in violent crime, up 4.7 percent. Much of that was driven by robbery, up 14.6 percent, nearly three times the increase in the Northeast.

The Northeast had the smallest increase in violent crime, 2.9 percent. The South led in homicides, up 3.3 percent.

Many cities showed increases in homicides: Miami was up to 30 from 23; Indianapolis to 68 from 44; Boston to 37 from 29; and Detroit to 186 from 169.