New Haven Crime Report Card: Mixed Bag

Burglaries are up while violent crimes remain steady.

The murder rate jumped 69% in New Haven in 2008.  City officials released the crime statistics for the year in a Friday news conference.

Mayor John DeStefano focused on the people behind the murder statistics rather than the jump itself.  He said that of the 22 homicide victims in 2008, 16 were convicted felons.  He said felons are killing themselves. 

The democratic mayor said he was working with other big city mayors in the state and with republican Governor Jodi Rell to come up with programs to address what he called prison re-entry problems. He wants to find a way for ex-cons to re-enter life outside of prison without committing more violent crimes.  

"There are too many shootings and homicides," said DeStafano.  "All of us are committed to working together to fixing that."

While the number of murders was way up, the total count of shootings with victims was down slightly (4%).  Police Chief James Lewis said the number of shootings is a more significant measure of major crimes in the city and he was pleased to see it was down, if only a little.

The numbers released Friday show some crimes went down in 2008, while others continued an upward trend.

Burglaries went up significantly. So did thefts of items inside cars.  But the number of stolen cars was actually down.

DeStefano said he plans to lower the crime rate by emphasizing more community programs for teens and for felons.  He also intends to create a street crime unit.

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