Comments on: 2007 City Crime Rankings Released

By: Navigator

Navigator — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:15:17 +0000

Robert,

I believe you’re right. This explains the discrepancy between the two sets of FBI crime statistics for 2007. Thanks for clarifying.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:02:26 +0000

Navigator, your numbers, at least for murder for 2007, appear to come from the preliminary UCR, while V’s number comes from the final version of the report. Since you don’t provide the actual link for your data it is difficult to be sure if that is where you got your numbers.

By: Navigator

Navigator — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:39:24 +0000

V these are FBI numbers.

FBI Uniform Crime Reports 2006-2007

The following report is generated from crime data submitted to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. This report does not reflect all crime as the UCR program only collects data on eight offense types and then only counts the most serious offense when numerous crimes are reported on the same police report.

Oakland – California

In 2007, this city reported 7,351 violent crimes and 22,646 property crimes.

Violent crime is composed of four offenses: Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent crimes are defined in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program as those offenses which involve force or threat of force.

Property crime includes the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. While arson is a property crime, data for arson are not included in property crime totals. Figures for 2007 indicate that arson decreased 7.0 percent in 2007 when compared to 2006 figures.The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims.

BY THE NUMBERS
Violent Crimes
7,351

Property Crimes
22,646
Population
396,541

VIOLENT CRIMES
Murder
118

Forcible Rape
277
Robbery
3,419

Aggravated Assault
3,537

PROPERTY CRIMES

By: V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:20:58 +0000

Navigator, I still have no idea where you're coming up with those numbers from because you didn't provide any source for your data, but they are not the what the FBI lists for Oakland in 2007. These are the 2007 numbers from the Uniform Crime Report for Oakland: Violent Crimes: 7,605 Murder: 120 Forcible Rape: 299 Robbery: 3,470 Aggravated Assault: 3,716. The Property Crime total was 23,664.

By: Navigator

Navigator — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:23:17 +0000

V, this is where I got the 118 homicides and other crime stats for 2007.

Oakland – California

In 2007, this city reported 7,351 violent crimes and 22,646 property crimes.

BY THE NUMBERS
Violent Crimes
7,351

Property Crimes
22,646
Population
396,541

VIOLENT CRIMES
Murder
118

Forcible Rape
277
Robbery
3,419

Aggravated Assault
3,537

By: V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:25:45 +0000

Navigator, I'm not sure where you got that idea about 118. The numbers I use come from the FBI Uniform Crime Report, which lists Oakland at 120 homicides for 2007.

By: Navigator

Navigator — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:56:45 +0000

V, we seem to be mixing up “justifiable” and “non justifiable” homicide numbers. On one hand, we’re including at least seven justifiable homicides in the 2008 numbers to come up with 115. On the other hand, we deduct the justifiable homicides, or what ever other methods were used, to come up with the decade numbers. For example, in 1999 there were 66 homicides, not 60. In 1992 there were 175 homicides, not 165. Last year,there were 128 homicides recorded, not 120. The FBI actually had Oakland with 118 homicides last year, which means there must have been 10 justifiable homicides included in the original 128. So please, let’s not mix up the total homicide numbers with the revised numbers, which include taking out the “justifiable homicides.”

Oakland needs to do what San Francisco does with the acknowledgment and cooperation of the San Francisco media, and simply deduct its justifiable homicides from the ongoing yearly count on its own without the permission of the FBI. By using this San Francisco method of homicide recording Oakland could improve its homicide rankings and image throughout the year and simplify regional comparisons. After all, why go through out the year crucifying yourself with homicides that your neighbor wouldn’t even count and the FBI will just deduct at the end of the year. It’s time that Oakland get on the San Francisco homicide reporting plan. From now on, Oakland does NOT have 115 homicides to date, but 108 instead.

By: James H. Robinson

James H. Robinson — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:18:58 +0000

Thanks for the stats. Is it more fair to compare the current number of homicides to the lowest number or to recent years’ homicides?

By: V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:29:18 +0000

James, 1999 had the lowest number of homicides recorded since 1969 and 1992, with 165 homicides (not 172) was the highest.. Here are the homicide totals over the last two decades.

1988: 112
1989: 129
1990: 146
1991: 149
1992: 165
1993: 154
1994: 140
1995: 137
1996: 93
1993: 99
1998: 72
1999: 60
2000: 80
2001: 84
2002: 108
2003: 109
2004: 82
2005: 93
2006: 145
2007: 120
2008, YTD: 115

By: James H. Robinson

James H. Robinson — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:56:46 +0000

1999 was an unusually low year for homicides. In fact homicides in 1999 were lower than the 16 years before it. I would prefer we look at a 5 year trend, instead of comparing to 1999. If we are going to pick an arbitrary year from the 1990′s, why not pick 1992 when there were 172 homicides?

Here’s a web site that could help:

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2005-01-03/article/20436?headline=A-Longer-Range-View-of-Oakland-s-Homicides-By-J.DOUGLAS-ALLEN-TAYLOR