Chief: Violent crime down 11% 1st half of '09

DURHAM -- Major crime in Durham was down about 4 percent in the first half of 2009, compared to the same stretch the year before, Police Chief Jose Lopez told elected officials this week.

Police noted an 11 percent drop-off in violent crime through the end of June, but the far-more-numerous reports of property crime also deceased, Lopez said.

Totals for property crime -- burglaries, larcenies and motor-vehicle thefts -- were down 2 percent compared to the figures for the opening half of 2008.

The city's reported totals for the first six months of 2009 were also lower when compared to the same period of 2007.

Violent crime -- homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault -- was down 3 percent compared to levels two years ago. Police have acknowledged that violence jumped in 2008 because of an unusual, early-year string of hold-ups.

Lopez said the figures the department is seeing this year are the fruit of previous arrests.

"We believe much of this decrease is due to the fact that several people charged with multiple robberies last year are still in jail," he told City Council members.

Property crime and overall crime totals for the first half of 2009 were both down 7 percent compared to the same stretch of 2007.

The chief's report, the latest in an ongoing series, drew praise from elected officials. But they also cautioned that the public still considers the city's crime rate high.

Officials have to address "the ideal versus reality and perceptions versus reality," Councilman Eugene Brown said, adding that he's hearing more informal complaints about break-ins and other property crimes than at any time since taking office in 2003.

Brown also said he worries about the numbers taking a turn for the worse as accused and convicted criminals get out of jail.

State and local officials "may be forced due to budget cuts to release prisoners early, and there's a lack of rehabilitation going on [while] they are incarcerated," he said. "This system is not working very well."

Brown's skepticism is shared by at least one local lawyer.

Attorney Bill Thomas, one of the city's top criminal-defense practitioners, said his eyes are telling him that serious crime is up, not down.

"I'm from the school that the proof is in the pudding," he said. "When you have a courthouse full of serious felonies every day, five days a week, it's hard to make a serious argument that crime is on the decrease. The jails are full; the courtrooms are full. There's just no indication of a decrease in crime in this community, regardless of any type of statistical interpretation."

He added that council members should look at court filings over a decade's time. "You have to have your eyes on the long-term trends," Thomas said.

But figures reported by the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts also suggest that crime is trending down.

Felony filings in Durham Superior Court have dropped off since fiscal 1999-2000, falling from a reported 2,559 then to 2,006 in fiscal 2008-09.

The state's fiscal year overlaps the calendar year, running from July 1 to the following June 30.

The state's figures on felony filings spiked in fiscal 2007-08, paralleling the Police Department's reported increase in violent crime in early 2008.

Case filings in Superior Court were, however, relatively stable throughout the decade in comparison with the figures seen in Durham's district courts.

District Court handles most misdemeanors and saw a steady drop in criminal filings -- meaning for offenses other than traffic violations -- over the decade.

It recorded 19,213 filings in fiscal 1999-2000 and 15,784 in fiscal 2008-09.
But many cases were taking longer to make it through the system.

The median age of Superior Court cases rose 67 days from 1999-2000 to 2008-09, while the median for District Court cases increased 19 days.

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