GARY | Defying the trend across the rest of the Midwest, the city of Gary posted a 48 percent increase in murders in 2007, statistics released Monday by the FBI show. (Database)
The number of slayings in Gary rose, even as murders dropped 3.8 percent in the Midwest as a whole, the federal figures show.
Gary police reported 71 murders in 2007 and 48 in 2006.
Nationwide, murders decreased 2.7 percent in 2007 from the year before, according to the FBI�s annual Uniform Crime Report data.
In Gary, the number of murders stood out because violent crimes in every other category in the city dropped in 2007 -- exactly as they did across the Midwest.
Rape, robbery, assault, burglary, property crime, larceny and auto theft all dropped in Gary, although arson numbers were not posted for 2006 or 2007.
Gary replaced its police chief earlier this year after the former chief, Thomas Houston, was indicted on charges he beat up suspects in a robbery of his home. Houston was chief less than a year.
When Cmdr. Lawrence Wright was hired as interim chief, city officials publicly noted that, with the exception of murder, overall violent crime decreased in Gary under Houston�s watch.
Asked about the crime statistics Monday, Mayor Rudy Clay remained upbeat.
"It's a well-kept secret, but in Gary, Ind., according to our police chief, Lawrence Wright ... the crime rate is lower in Gary than it has been in 50 years," Clay said Monday. "The homicides in Gary as of last week are half of what it was a year ago."
An umbrella category in the FBI report titled violent crime showed Gary reported a 5 percent decrease in the overall number of incidents of violent crime in 2007.
Nicky Ali Jackson, an associate professor of criminal justice at Purdue University Calumet who is teaching a class this term called Murder in America, said Gary's murder increase in 2007 was so sharp she wondered whether the killings were being classified differently than in the past.
In general, the biggest factors that drive murder rates are the availability of weapons, the presence of street gangs, and the age and gender makeup of the population.
"The age of the population is a big factor," Jackson said. "When you have a large population of young males ... your community is at greater risk for homicide," Jackson said.
In nearby Chicago, killings decreased by 5 percent in 2007.
Reports from Northwest Indiana�s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force say gang activity is on the rise in the region in recent years, with the estimated number of street gang members now topping 2,500.
In Indiana, the FBI�s uniform crime report analyzes the five cities that have roughly 100,000 residents or more: Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Indianapolis and South Bend. Among them, Fort Wayne also bucked the national trend in homicides, increasing from 18 in 2006 to 24 in 2007.
Among those cities, the category of violent crime increased in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis.
