Metro Atlanta had increase in crime in ‘07

Violent crime increased in Atlanta last year, with the city recording its highest number of murders in four years, according to statistics released Monday by the FBI.

The numbers of violent crimes and murders also rose in most of metro Atlanta’s largest counties.

But nationwide, violent crime dipped slightly.

Atlanta recorded 129 murders and cases of non-negligent manslaughter in 2007, up from 110 the previous year and 90 in 2005. That number was the highest since 2003, when the city tallied 149 murders.

Cases of aggravated assault showed a slight decline, from 4,308 in 2006 to 4,221 last year, according the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting figures.

Another major crime that decreased last year in Atlanta was rape, according to the report. The city recorded 148 “forcible rapes” in 2007, compared with 171 in 2006, 223 in 2005 and 267 in 2004.

On the property crime side of the ledger, Atlanta recorded an increase of more than 4,000 from 2006 to 2007.

There were 36,232 property crimes reported in the city last year, 32,231 in 2006, 31,397 in 2005 and 33,185 in 2004.

Burglaries, larcenies and auto thefts were up last year, with arson being the only property crime category showing a decrease, from 175 arsons in 2006 to 155 in 2007.

FBI statistics from the Fulton County Police Department show violent crimes in the county down, from 984 in 2006 to 909 in 2007, but murders and aggravated assaults up, from 17 murders and 408 aggravated assaults in 2006 to 20 murders and 453 aggravated assaults in 2007.

Elsewhere:

• In Clayton County, there were 1,366 violent crimes investigated by the county’s police department in 2007, an increase of 210 from the previous year. The county recorded 35 murders, up from 34 in 2006, and 649 aggravated assaults, an increase of 141.

• Cobb County police reported 24 murders and 1,402 violent crimes in 2007, comparted to 22 and 1,393 in 2006, while there was a decrease in aggravated assaults, from 717 in 2006 to 657 last year.

• The number of murders investigated by DeKalb County police jumped from 85 in 2006 to 108 in 2007, according to the FBI. Violent crimes in the county climbed from 4,454 to 4,644, while aggravated assaults dropped from 2,023 in 2006 to 1,563 in 2007.

• Gwinnett County’s statistics showed a slight increase in murders, from 35 in 2006 to 36 in 2006, while violent crimes were up from 1,890 in 2006 to 1,945 in 2007 and aggravated assaults increased from 708 in 2006 to 725 last year.

Individual cities in metro counties reported crime statistics separately from the county police departments.

Nationwide data showed violent crime dipping slightly in 2007, ending two years of increases in murders, robberies, and other kinds of the worst crime in U.S. cities.

An estimated 1.4 million violent crimes were reported across the country last year, a 0.7 drop from 2006.

The number of burglaries, car thefts, arsons and other property crimes also dropped by 1.4 percent. That marked the fifth year of property crime decreases, the FBI said.

Mayors across the nation have pleaded for years for more federal funding to combat violent crime. The crime rate began to rise after historic lows over the last decade, beginning during the Clinton administration and continuing in President Bush’s first years in the White House.

Monday’s results confirm what the FBI predicted earlier this year: that increases in violence nationwide have waned, even if not as much as originally thought. Preliminary data released in January showed a 1.8 percent drop in violent crime for the first six months of 2007, a decrease more than twice as large as the full year’s results.

The Associated Press contributed to this report