Overall crime drops 3.6 percent on O'ahu
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Overall crime on O'ahu tumbled for a third consecutive year in 2005 although cases of rape, robbery, assault and arson increased slightly, according to FBI statistics released yesterday.
There were 44,953 felony offenses reported last year, down 3.6 percent, from 46,628 in 2004.
Reported violent crimes — murder, rape, robbery and assault — increased slightly, keeping with a national trend of rising violence.
But the increase, from 2,507 crimes in 2004 to 2,570 last year, is unlike the spike seen in comparable jurisdictions on the Mainland. There were 10,691 reported violent crimes in Phoenix last year, up from 9,465 in 2004. In Seattle, violent crime rose to 4,109 last year, from 3,798 in 2004.
Phoenix and Seattle are two cities the Honolulu Police Department uses to gauge crime and policing trends.
"We're fortunate here in Honolulu that we don't have a real problem with violent crime," said Charles L. Goodwin, special agent in charge of the FBI's Honolulu division. "One of the biggest factors is the strong sense of community and family here in Hawai'i that you don't have in the metropolitan areas on the Mainland."
Property crimes, long the most pervasive criminal offense on O'ahu, fell for the third straight year. Law enforcement officials credit the decline to an increased effort to arrest and prosecute repeat property criminals.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said the violent crime increase might be too small to indicate anything except that crime rates are cyclical. Because many violent crimes are random, he said, those offenses are more difficult to control than property crime.
"The trend (of decreasing crime) is a good one. Those (increasing violent crime) numbers are real, real small and I don't know if it is statistically significant," Carlisle said yesterday. "We continue to have problems with crystal methamphetamine and the people who use it."
ROBBERY, RAPE, ASSAULT
While property crimes continue to decline, Carlisle said, the state's problem with crystal methamphetamine and cocaine continues to fuel property crime. Getting a handle on the drug problem will go a long way to curtailing property crime, since the state has always done a good job incarcerating violent criminals, he said.
The increase in violent crime can be attributed to three categories: rape, robbery, and assault.
Last year on O'ahu, there were:
American cities with 500,000 to 999,999 inhabitants — a category that includes the City and County of Honolulu — experienced the greatest average increases in both robbery, 9.9 percent, and aggravated assault, 8.5 percent, according to the FBI.
Honolulu's increases, however slight, match a national trend that saw an overall increase in violent crime of 2.5 percent, which equates to more than 1.4 million crimes, the largest percentage increase since 1991.
Robberies were up 4.5 percent nationally and aggravated assaults 1.9 percent, according to the FBI figures.
Arson offenses on O'ahu rose for a third straight year from 427 in 2004 to 547 last year, bucking a national trend of declining arson offenses in cities with 500,000 to 999,999 residents, according to the FBI.
COMMUNITY PERCEPTION
Declining crime is a good thing, but some caution that statistics are but one way to gauge crime in O'ahu's communities.
William Clark, chairman of the 'Aiea Neighborhood Board and former deputy chief of the Honolulu Police Department, said there is no way to get a clear picture of the criminal climate on O'ahu because it is impossible to document crimes that are committed but not reported. The community's perception of crime will be based on more than law enforcement statistics, he said.
People will consider what crimes earn the most media attention and whether they have been a victim before forming an opinion about crime in their area, Clark said.
"Numbers can indicate several things especially when considering actual crime versus reported crime. But there is something good to be said for the work of the Police Department, the city prosecutor, the courts and the communities taking charge," Clark said. "I would hope that real crime went down, but seeing what goes on in the community would draw you different conclusions. Some communities are hit harder than others."
The preliminary FBI data, compiled from reports by more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies, does not offer any explanation for the changes. The FBI's final annual crime report comes out in the fall.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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