Montgomery Says Violent Crimes Down In 2016
While many crime statistics were down this year, some were on the rise.
When it comes to the city’s murder rate, Director of Public Safety Chris Murphy says that number was trending in the right direction in 2016.
“Actually I’m very proud to report that we are significantly down from last year. We had 39 homicides at the end of last year, and I know we have another week, but we’re at 32 this year. That’s good,” said Director Murphy.
The city also saw less burglaries and robberies overall. But Murphy says a specific type of burglary is on the rise. That’s vehicle break ins.
“Over 60 something percent of those are unlocked, sometimes they’re left running. There are ipads, purses, things of value in sight. That’s where we certainly would hope your viewers would help us on that. Just take a few extra minutes, literally the bad guys will go through neighborhoods and just check doors,” said Murphy.
While some crime is easier to predict, Murphy says this year has been pretty difficult. He says some gangs are shooting at each other one minute, then working together the next. He’s even seen a spike in robberies by females, which he says is very rare.
“So it’s hard to, when you look at the whole map of the city, exactly what they’re doing. It’s so sporadic, that police tactics have to be sporadic. I’m very proud of Chief Finley and his folks. They meet literally every week and strategize about this,” said Murphy.
