FBI, state stats show drop in violent crime

Violent crime across the nation again dipped last year, a decrease that also occurred on Long Island, according to state and federal crime statistics.

More than 5 percent fewer violent crimes such as murders and rapes happened nationally last year compared with 2009, according to FBI crime statistics released Monday.

It was the fourth year in a row that the number of violent crimes reported to thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country has dropped.

On Long Island, departments also saw lower numbers last year in violent crime, which includes murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery.

In Suffolk, where county detectives and state troopers investigated 52 homicides -- the highest yearly number in nearly two decades -- there were 2,360 violent incidents, down from 2,733 in 2009, a 13.6 percent drop.

Nassau reported 2,339 violent crimes in 2010, down from 2,496 in 2009.

Nationally, all categories for property crime went down as well in 2010. Property crimes in Suffolk went up 7 percent -- mostly due to a rise in burglaries -- but remained below 2008 numbers.

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Nassau County property crimes decreased 7.2 percent from 2009 to 2010.

David Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the numbers continue to disprove a common misconception that bad economic times push people to break the law.

"There is a connection between long-term intergenerational poverty and crime," he said. "But the idea that middle-class people who lost their job will start killing, raping and stealing is transparently wrong.

"For the last couple of years people have been saying 'It hasn't happened yet but it will,' " he said. "Well, once again it hasn't come."

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and acting county police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter credited the department's use of crime tracking computer technology with helping to drive the data downward.

The tools, such as technology being used to track gunshots, "place critical information related to offenders and emerging crime patterns directly in the hands of patrol officers and investigating detectives, [and] have been a tremendous aid in achieving this reduction in index numbers," Krumpter said.

"We are always looking at new ways to combat crime, and the creation of units like the gun/gang suppression team and the heroin task force have greatly aided the department in accomplishing the task of reducing violent crime," said Suffolk police Commissioner Richard Dormer. "The creation of these units allows the department to dedicate its resources to crime hot spots where necessary."

New York City defied the national trend last year, with an overall increase of 4.6 percent in violent crime, according to the FBI. There were 536 homicides in the city last year, up from a record-low total of 471 in 2009.

The FBI's preliminary Uniform Crime Report, to be followed later in the year by a more detailed report, is based on mandatory data reporting by more than 13,000 law enforcement agencies. Local data are based on voluntary reporting by 49 law enforcement agencies.