Phila. crime rate sees large increase

Despite a seven percent national decrease in the number of crimes reported to police this past year, Philadelphia's crime rate rose significantly in 1998, lowering its ranking from the fourth-safest big city in America to the sixth, according to preliminary FBI crime statistics released last week. New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Houston all have lower crime rates, with New York boasting the rating of America's safest city. But the FBI report -- also known as the Uniform Crime Reporting program -- said that Philadelphia's crime statistics from this past year could not be compared to the original 1997 data after an internal investigation in the Philadelphia Police Department last year discovered at least 3,000 unreported crimes. With the lost data factored into last year's reports, crime in Philadelphia rose about 11 percent in 1998 -- from an estimated 95,755 crimes in 1997 to 106,078 in 1998. But city officials have cautioned that the rise in the number of reported crimes is not necessarily indicative of a Philadelphia crime wave, but may be due instead to further inaccuracies in old crime statistics. Since the crackdown on false crime reporting -- led by Police Commissioner John Timoney soon after he entered office in March 1998 -- the city has been working on correcting false reporting procedures that led to the inaccurate crime statistics. "I don't think it indicates a crime increase," Timoney told The Philadelphia Inquirer last week. "It's an increase in reported crime. We are following the letter of the FBI's law regarding crime reporting so [crimes] that may not have been captured before have been captured." While Philadelphia originally boasted a two percent decrease in crime in 1997, the addition of the 3,000 unreported crimes reversed that rating, leaving the city with a two percent increase in crime for the year, according to the Inquirer. Philadelphia had the third highest murder rate among the nation's 10 largest cities, with 338 reported homicides. Only Detroit and Chicago exceeded Philadelphia in the number of reported murders per population. Aggravated assaults in Philadelphia totaled 8,701, giving the city the 6th highest rating in the nation's biggest cities. Philadelphia also ranked sixth-highest in burglaries.

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