Violent Crimes Down For Fifth Straight Year

Crime in Washington’s three largest cities decreased in most categories last year, mirroring a national trend.

Preliminary FBI figures for 1996 violent crimes reported to police showed a record 7 percent drop last year nationally. It was the fifth straight year of declines in serious offenses.

In Spokane, murders fell by nearly 35 percent, from 23 in 1995 to 15 last year. Rapes fell nearly 33 percent, robberies dropped almost 27 percent and arson declined by almost 45 percent.

Police Chief Terry Mangan was glad to see the falling numbers but warned that the decrease likely would be short-lived.

The last of the baby boom generation, with its large population mass, just exited the prime crime-committing ages of 14-28. That likely contributed a large part to the recent decrease in crime, Mangan said.

Crime is likely to rise again, though, when the children of baby boomers - known as the “echo boomers” - begin reaching those ages, he said.

“We’re between one wave and a second wave,” Mangan said.

Juvenile crime rates have been escalating for several years, and those increases are likely to carry over into the adult world, he said.

“We shouldn’t rest on our laurels,” said Mangan, adding that community-oriented policing efforts like those in Spokane can help keep crime down. “People who rest on their laurels are wearing them on the wrong part of their anatomy.”

In Seattle, murders dropped nearly 10 percent from 41 in 1995 to 37 in 1996, according to the statistics released Sunday. Robberies dropped more than 11 percent, assaults went down 4.5 percent and vehicle thefts dropped 8.5 percent.

Burglaries and thefts rose slightly. There were 261 forcible rapes reported last year, one more than in 1995.

Seattle police say that community policing efforts and violence prevention programs may have had an effect.

“We’re hoping that by prosecuting some of these things earlier we’re preventing some more serious assaults and homicides,” police spokeswoman Christie-Lynn Bonner said.

Murders in Tacoma dropped from 28 in 1995 to 20 last year, a decline of nearly 29 percent. Rapes were down about 20 percent and assaults declined 12.5 percent. Burglaries were down by 10 percent, but car thefts rose by 7 percent.

Tacoma police spokesman Jim Mattheis said the decreases could be “just a blip,” but he also called them the first significant declines in years in Tacoma. He said a number of factors could be at work, including police efforts to target and prevent violent and drug crimes.

“We have taken a lot of our hardcore gang members and people who were dealing drugs off the street,” he said.

Mattheis said the increase in car theft could be due to the department focusing more attention on violent crimes.

The FBI released the statistics only for cities with more than 100,000 people. Final figures are due out this fall.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CRIME IN WASHINGTON Here are preliminary 1996 crime statistics, released by the FBI, for Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma: Crime 1995 1996 PctChg Spokane Murder 23 15 -34.8 Forcible Rape 132 89 -32.6 Robbery 471 346 -26.5 Agg Assault 960 858 -10.6 Burglary 2,966 3,032 +02.2 Larceny-Theft 11,000 11,101 +00.9 Vehicle Theft 932 845 -09.3 Arson 74 41 -44.6

Seattle Murder 41 37 -09.8 Forcible Rape 260 261 +00.4 Robbery 2,213 1,963 -11.3 Agg Assault 2,390 2,282 -04.5 Burglary 7,689 7,855 +02.2 Larceny-Theft 35,970 36,883 +02.5 Vehicle Theft 6,944 6,355 -08.5 Arson 246 250 +01.6

Tacoma Murder 28 20 -28.6 Forcible Rape 171 137 -19.9 Robbery 925 792 -14.4 Agg Assault 2,099 1,836 -12.5 Burglary 3,655 3,284 -10.2 Larceny-Theft 12,250 11,255 -08.1 Vehicle Theft 2,638 2,819 +06.9 Arson 137 125 -08.8