Columbia crime remains constant
The total number of crime incidents increased by 19 incidents.
Published Feb. 2, 2007
Although total reported crime in the city of Columbia stayed relatively constant last year, incidents of violent crimes have decreased, according to the Columbia Police Department's Uniform Crime Report.
The total crime index for the city of Columbia increased from 3,545 incidents in 2005 to 3,564 incidents last year, according to the report.
The report is issued annually by the department and is linked on its Web site. The report lists the number of crimes reported by category and the number cleared through arrest or other means.
The number of homicides in the city decreased from eight reports in 2005 to two last year.
In March, Carlos Kelly was beaten to death in his Columbia home. The case was cleared with the arrest of Rodney Cunningham, Travis Midgyett and Felson Barney. Charges against Barney related to the murder were dropped in September and charges against Cunningham and Midgyett are still pending trial.
In November, 37-year-old Chris Byers was found dead on the roadside in a Columbia residential area. The case was cleared in the same month with the arrest of Donald Nickens.
Columbia Police Capt. Brad Nelson said the high homicide rate in 2005 was unusual for the city.
"I would say the eight we had last year was a spike," Nelson said. "On average, we've had two or three each year for the past decade."
The department cleared all of the 10 reported homicide cases in the city in the past two years.
The rate of clearance for rape reports increased from 32 percent in 2005 to 74 percent in 2006.
Nelson said the increased clearance was partially due to the relatively small number of reports but also because of the types of rape being reported.
"The majority of rapes we've had were acquaintance-type rape versus stranger rapes," he said.
According to the report, incidents of all violent crimes reported decreased from 578 in 2005 to 459 in 2006. The number of violent crimes that were cleared dropped from 67 percent in 2005 to 65 percent in 2006.
Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, Nelson said. The reports in the category had decreased by four percent altogether.
The clearance of property crime reports has also declined from 34 percent clearance in 2005 to 31 percent clearance in 2006. Columbia police reported more than 3,000 incidents of property crime.
Property crime includes burglary, larceny and auto theft.
In 2006, 225 cars were reported stolen to Columbia police. Of these, 92 percent were recovered.
In all categories, the department exceeded the national average clearance rate for reported crimes in 2004, according to the report. The data from Uniform Crime Reports from various law enforcement agencies are compiled by the FBI to provide nationwide statistics.
Nelson said the report does not include any cases reported to MU police, only those reported to Columbia police.
The MU Police Department released its annual Campus Crime and Safety Report, listing the number of criminal incidences that occur on campus in September. The report is published to meet the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which requires universities receiving federal funding to report criminal activity on campus, according to the MU Police Web site.