Recent statistics from the FBI reveal that, despite a declining crime rate in the nation as a whole, Eugene’s violent crime rates in the first six months of 2007 increased by 67 percent from the same time period in 2006. Crime in general increased 5.7 percent.
The FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report revealed that the prevalence of some crimes, such as robbery and aggravated assault, have almost doubled in number in Eugene. In contrast, Portland and Salem’s rates have decreased in most categories.
Lane County Deputy District Attorney Alex Gardner didn’t find the increase surprising.
“I know this has been an enormous revelation for many members of the public, but we’ve seen this happening for a while,” Gardner said.
The recent hike in crime rates has to do in part with “a substantial influence out of Oregon gangs” and the understaffed police precincts within the county, Gardner said. Most areas the size of Lane County have twice as many enforcement staff.
Eugene Police Chief Bob Lehner said he wasn’t sure whether the statistics were worrisome or simply a chance anomaly.
“They don’t really lend themselves very well to deciding that you do or don’t have a problem in the community,” Lehner said. “When you’re talking about crime, those are really small numbers.”
Although the numbers look high, Lehner said, the percentage of the population committing crime in Eugene is lower than an average city of similar size. For example, the number of violent crimes jumped from 131 to 219 between the first half of 2006 and the first half of 2007, but violent crime rates in Eugene are the second-lowest of all the U.S. cities listed in the FBI’s report.
“Salem has reported an eight percent decrease in violent crime; that sounds pretty good, but its rate is about 40 percent higher than Eugene’s,” said Lehner.
Of all the statistics reported, Lehner said he’s paying the most attention to property crime. The Northwest is and has long been one of the worst areas for property crime, according to Lehner, and Eugene is no exception: In the first half of 2007, EPD reported 3,938 such crimes.
“There’s a systematic problem there that’s only partially addressed by police arrests that we have to deal with,” Lehner said. Property crime is largely the result of “a pretty high drug and alcohol use rate and a low prosecution and treatment rate.”
But drug and alcohol users don’t deserve all the blame, Lehner said. “There needs to be a concerted community effort in which people keep from being victims themselves,” he said. “Lock your cars, lock your houses.”
The crime statistics University students may be the most concerned about are those of rape, which tripled from 10 to 30 between the beginning of 2006 and the beginning of 2007. Eugene has a higher rate of assault than most cities its size, Lehner said, largely because its University population accounts for a large chunk of the city’s population as a whole.
“The population at U of O is predominantly single, so people are dating. With dating relationships you get a much bigger number of date rapes,” he said.
Gardner said Eugene’s rape numbers have always been high for the city’s size. “Even back in 2004, our incident of rape in Lane County was much higher than any large metropolitan area in the country,” he said.
Despite the increase in crime rates, English students Karen Shaup and Grace Hughes both said they feel safe when they’re on campus, even at night. Student Jonathan Fryer agreed that campus felt safe and that “the worst thing I think about is my bike,” which he said has been stolen twice in Eugene.
[email protected]