Tulsa's Homicide Rate Under Control After Early Spike

TULSA, Okla. (AP) Tulsa's police chief says the homicide rate has slowed after a pace earlier in the year that had Oklahoma's second largest city on pace for more than 100 homicides in a year.

Tuesday, December 19th 2006, 8:47 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) Tulsa's police chief says the homicide rate has slowed after a pace earlier in the year that had Oklahoma's second largest city on pace for more than 100 homicides in a year.

Police Chief Dave Been said Monday concentrated work by police and cooperation from federal officials has brought the unacceptable level of violent crime earlier this year back to something closer to normal.

``We started out the year with 11 homicides in January, and we've got 56 right now. If I had some wood, I'd knock on it right now,'' Been said. ``That's too many, way too many, but our officers have done an excellent job in at least stemming the tide of homicides.''

FBI statistics for the first six months of the year show homicides and robberies continued to rise across the country and in Tulsa. The statistics show Tulsa's violent crime was up 6 percent, pushed by an increase in aggravated assault reports.

Violent crime rates in Oklahoma City and Norman, the only other Oklahoma communities tracked by the report, were down.

Driven by gang violence earlier in the year, Tulsa once was on pace to record more than 100 homicides in 2006. The city averages 45 to 50 homicides a year. Its record was set in 2003, when 69 people were killed in the city.

Been said it isn't an accident that the crime rate has come more under control.

A concerted effort to address gang crimes in cooperation with federal prosecutors and targeting armed robberies have paid off with improved crime statistics in the city, he said.

``In this last six or eight months, we've done a tremendous job of dropping the crime rate,'' Been said. ``What we looked at in January were some gang issues that were quickly brought to order.''

Tulsa is a small enough city that a few criminals can drive up the crime rate, Been said. Arresting one accused serial rapist and three groups of armed robbers, totaling eight or nine people, has made a strong impact, he said.

Nationally, the FBI reported a 3.7 percent increase in violent crime between January and June.

Property crimes like auto theft and other larcenies were down nationally by 2.6 percent over the same six-month period, data show. In Tulsa, property crime was down by 1.8 percent.