Orlando Joins List of Cities with Sharp Increase in Murders

AP. (2006, July 23). Orlando joins list of cities with sharp increase in murders. The New York Times, p.16.

Several people are falling victim to violent crimes ending in murder. "People can attribute crime to failing schools, failing families; there's a bunch of sociological things you can put your finger on. All we can do as police is say the biggest things are drugs and robbery, and we're going to take action to attack those issues," stated Sgt. Rich Ring, a supervisor of Orlando's homicide investigation unit. Some victims include a six year old who suffered head injuries (child abuse), twenty-two year old shot in the back of the head, someone in passing was stabbed, and an eighteen year old was shot to death by people mistaking him for someone else.

Throughout the nation violent crime has increased 2.5 percent according to information released last month about 2005, with a 4.8 percent rise in murders. This is the largest since 1991.

Jacksonville continues to be the murder capital of Florida for 12 of the past 17 years with 130 murders for the first time in more than ten years. Detroit has a 22 percent increase during 2005, with 460 homicides. The police of Washington, D.C. confirmed a crime emergency this month because of the rise in robberies and assaults.

Many people travel to Orlando for the tourist attractions. They only ranked 107 in the per-capita murders in 2004.

Accordig to Sergeant Ring, this year most murders were commited with handguns and the victims were mostly young men involved in drugs or the killed by someone involved in drugs. The neighborhoods away from the tourist attractions and west of downtown were the scenes of crimes scattered across the city.

There has been no murdering of tourists and law abiding citizens were not at risk was the emphasis of Chief Mike McCoy. "If you are not selling drugs, if you don't house people selling drugs, if you don't have the proceeds of drugs in your home, then your chances of being involved in a homicide are pretty slim," said Chief McCoy.

Visitors don't seem to be worried. At night downtown clubs ad bars are still crowded, and families seem to love the theme parks. People are even walking dogs and jogging after dark around town in the cities parks.

In the hardest hit areas, people even seem to not notice