Daytona Beach, FL – Crime is on the rise in both Volusia and Flagler.
The latest semi-annual Uniform Crime Report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows a 13.4% rise in the crime rate for Volusia for the first 6 months of 2015 compared to the same time a year ago.
In Flagler, the crime rate for the first half of the year is 2.4% higher than during the same time last year, according to FDOE statistics.
Much of the rise in Volusia is centered around aggravated assaults, larceny and motor vehicle theft. There are 136 more reports of aggravated assaults, 999 more larceny reports and 211 more motor vehicle thefts.
There’s also a rise in the number of murders (+6) and robberies (+10) in Volusia and declines in rape (-44) and burglaries (-146).
Volusia’s overall clearance rate – defined as the number of cases solved compared to the number of cases reported – fell to 35.8% for the first 6 months of 2015. It was at 36.4% for the first 6 months of 2014.
At the law enforcement department level, crime rate jumped up for every agency in Volusia except for the Sheriff’s Office (-1.6%) and the police department of Orange City (-12.4%) and South Daytona (-8.6%).
Edgewater led the way for all the major cities with a 24.6% rise in the crime rate but also had the highest clearance rate at 63.4%. Orange City (57.6%) was the only other law enforcement agency to score over 50% in that category, though Daytona Beach Shores came close at 48%.
Holly Hill came in 2nd at 22.3%, followed by New Smyrna Beach at 20.3% and Daytona Beach Shores at 19%.
Daytona Beach’s crime rate rose 14.9% while also having the most amount of crimes committed at 2,701. Only the Sheriff’s Office (2,423) came close there, with every other law enforcement agency in Volusia reporting less than 1,000 crimes during that same time frame.
Ormond Beach’s crime rate rose 10.2% while Port Orange’s went up 5%. Lake Helen’s crime rate rose 7.1% while DeLand’s crime rate went up 6.6%.
Ponce Inlet’s crime rate rose up a staggering 190%, but with only 29 crimes reported, the small town also had the lowest amount of actual crime. Lake Helen – another small town – was just behind at 30.
Beach Safety’s crime rate rise was the highest of all Volusia law enforcement agencies at 562.5%. There were 636 crimes reported on the beach for the first 6 months of this year compared to just 96 in 2014, according to FDEO.
Flagler’s clearance rate fell to 23.6% for the first half of this year compared to 31.9% for the first half of last year.
Flagler also saw a rise in murders (+2), burglaries (+25) and larcenies (+16), but every other major crime category dropped. Those include robberies (-7), aggravated assaults (-8), and motor vehicle thefts (-5).
As a whole, Florida’s crime rate fell 2.2% for the first half of 2015 compared to the first half of 2014, primarily due to a large drop in burglary and larceny reports.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.