Ormond Beach's crime rate lowers, despite business as usual

Ormond Beach Observer
News

Ormond Beach’s crime rate was lowered by the second-highest margin in the county, 2011-2012.

BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER

The streets in Ormond Beach may be a little safer today than they were a year ago.

Gov. Rick Scott released the state’s Uniform Crime Report May 16, and Ormond Beach’s crime rate, for the first time since 2009, decreased. The crime rate fell by 15%, the second highest decrease in the county, behind Holly Hill’s 22.8% decrease.

“You try to identify things and you do different stuff, but you don’t know how effective it is until the crime stats come out,” said Officer Keith Feder, of the Ormond Beach Police Department. “You always take the good with the bad.”

Feder said the department has been “business as usual” and hasn’t implemented any significant changes the past two years, or increased its size. A reduced crime rate can be caused by a number of things, he added, and it should be looked at as a trend, not a significant change.

Feder said the department’s policy of keeping an officer patrolling the same neighborhood helps, because they get to know the citizens and the area. The community patrol emphasis may have also played a role, he said.

Additionally, for the fourth consecutive year, the city’s clearance rate, or rate of solved crimes, increased, up to 48.9%, also the second highest in the county, behind Orange City’s 52.5%. It’s the highest clearance rate the city has had the past five years, and the fifth consecutive year it has been above the county’s clearance rate.

The clearance rate has a lot to do with the type sof crimes and the residents, Feder said. If there was a string of car burglaries and the police department arrests a suspect for one, and they confess to the rest, the clearance rate will be higher for that month.

Feder also noted that the crime rate only reflects reported crimes.

There was good news for the state in the report, as well. Florida’s crime rate fell by 6.5%, and there were 43,536 fewer crimes during the year. Additionally, violent crime in the state fell by 4.3%, or 4,218 fewer crimes reported.

The value of stolen property in Florida decreased by 9.1%, and the value of recovered property increased by 2.7% during 2012. The state also reported a 5.9% decrease in non-violent crime and a 0.8% increase in total arrests.