Decrease in Houston's Crime Rate reported

Can we trust the numbers?

After two consecutive years of increases, the number and rate of Houston homicides dropped in 2007.

The city had 351 homicides through Dec. 31 down from 376 in 2006, HPD spokesman John Cannon said.

That's 14.4 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2007, compared with 15.9 during 2006. In 2005, Houston recorded 336 homicides, a rate of 14.3 percent.

HPD homicide Capt. Steve Jett credited an increase in patrols as well as overtime dollars for the decrease in overall crime, which affects the homicide rate.

What happened to the news story where it was reported that Houston was down playing its' crime statistics? Perhaps this is it.

Can We Trust The Statistics?

Can we trust any of Houston's crime statistics? After all, it has been reported that the Houston police department were playing with the numbers in order to have us believe that crime was low. According to FBI statistics:

Hate crimes in Texas fell to their lowest level in five years and Houston has the lowest per-capita rate of hate crimes among the nation's 10 largest cities.

There were 7,722 hate crimes motivated by prejudice against race, religion, sexual orientation or a disability in the United States in 2006, according to the FBI. That included 245 in Texas.

Are these figures legit?