Murders up 81 percent in Palm Beach County, FDLE figures sho
Murders up 81 percent in Palm Beach County, FDLE figures show
By Chrystian Tejedor
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 18, 2006
The number of homicides in Palm Beach County spiked by a whopping 81 percent during the first six months of 2006, an increase triple the state average.
Killings statewide jumped from 408 to 518, an increase of 27 percent, according to figures released Monday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Palm Beach County's number swelled from 27 to 49.
"Murders are up because it's a response to what's going on in the cities," where crimes may be narcotics-related, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
Larger metropolitan areas such as Broward, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough and Duval counties saw their murder rates increase at relatively more modest rates, stretching from 22 to 57 percent. Only Miami-Dade, Orange and Duval counties recorded more total homicides than Palm Beach County, according to the FDLE.
Palm Beach County had more homicides than Broward County, which reported 37 for the first six months of the year.
That's nine more than during the same period in 2005.
Overall, however, total crime dropped nearly 6 percent in Palm Beach County -- from 30,477 to 32,331 -- led by sliding numbers in nonviolent crimes like burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicle thefts. But violent crimes including forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assaults increased.
In instances where youths are involved, crimes tend to be violent, said Joshua Ederheimer, director of the Center on Force and Accountability at the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit dedicated to improving policing.
"It's not just that they're more involved in committing violence, but it's the nature of the crimes that they're committing," Ederheimer said. "They seem to be a little more brutal."
That's why we're seeing a rise in aggravated batteries and robberies, according to Ederheimer.
"I don't know what's contributing to this manifestation of these more brutal crimes," he said. "What we did hear from the chiefs was that street respect has taken a new meaning. A homicide may occur because of the way someone looked at someone's girlfriend at a club."
Police in Palm Beach County saw the violent crime numbers mushroom during the first four months of the year and banded together to form a countywide Violent Crimes Task Force to deal with the upswing in violence.
"We are solving crimes," said sheriff's Lt. Mike Wallace. "The biggest reason why is we're putting everyone together."
Detectives from the homicide units, gang units and auto theft units can compare names and notes to see if the same person is committing crimes, Wallace said.
The biggest stumbling block, he said, is getting a scared community to come forward and provide tips, but officers are hoping to overcome that.
In Bradshaw's jurisdiction, which generally covers areas west of the incorporated cities and towns on the coast, murders jumped from five during the first six months of 2005 to 23 during the same period this year.
"Generally, good people don't have to worry," Bradshaw said. "These are bad people doing things to other bad people."
West Palm Beach, meanwhile, saw the second largest jump in homicides in the Palm Beaches.
The county seat reported homicides rose from eight to 12.
Fort Lauderdale, the largest city in Broward County, registered 10 homicides during the first half of 2006 compared with eight from January to June 2005.
Miami tallied 30 slayings in 2006, seven more than from January to June 2005.
Bradshaw is hopeful the Violent Crimes Task Force will solve a great deal of its cases. But he cautioned that while crime-prevention programs can cut the number of burglaries, for example, there is no definitive way to prevent murders.
"You're not going to be able to stop them," Bradshaw said. "If you take away their guns, they'll get knives. If you take their knives, they'll use a brick."
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