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Violent crime in Vancouver rose last year, bucking a nationwide trend, according to preliminary statistics released Monday by the FBI.
According to the data, violent crime in the nation fell 5.5 percent in 2009, the third consecutive year of declines. Vancouver, though, went the other way, posting an 8.4 percent increase.
The Vancouver totals for violent crimes: 656 in 2009, compared with 605 in 2008. That figure includes a jump in homicides from 0 to 6; forcible rapes from 105 to 117; and aggravated assaults from 324 to 375. Robberies fell from 176 to 158.
Property crimes in Vancouver dropped from 6,298 to 5,944, or 5.6 percent, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which details the year-over-year ups and downs of vilent crimes — murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault — and property crimes — burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.
A one-year increase does not necessarily signal that Vancouver has become a significantly more dangerous place, police said.
Instead, a Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman said increases in violent crime can, in part, be attributed to the data’s narrow scope.
According to five-year trend lines analyzed by the police department, homicides, rapes, robberies, burglaries and auto thefts are all at or below yearly averages.
“Five-year trends tend to provide a bigger picture,” spokeswoman Kim Kapp said.
The six homicides in 2009 included the shooting deaths of siblings killed in the driveway of the home they shared; a sister stabbed by her mentally ill brother; an apparent drug deal gone bad; a wife shot by her husband in a murder-suicide; and a home-invasion robbery that ended with a killing.
The statistics, coupled with the circumstances of each death, indicate Vancouver’s streets are relatively free of random acts of stranger-to-stranger violence, Kapp said.
“These were not considered random,” Kapp said. “People were associated or related in some way. For a community of our size, we’re very fortunate that our violent crime rate is relatively small.”
Of the four property crimes tracked in the FBI report, only burglary increased.
Motor-vehicle theft and arson both declined by about 25 percent. Larceny, too, dropped, but within that category fall auto prowls, which are rising, Kapp said.
“We’ve had these people go through parking lots and when they see valuables they smash and grab,” Kapp said. “The biggest way for a decrease in that area is going to be behavioral changes on the part of citizens. They need to store their valuables somewhere else.”
Cuts to staffing have rendered the police department unable to respond to all property crimes, which may have deflated the data, said Kapp, who explained: When police don’t respond, victims stop reporting crimes.
Only reported crimes were included in the FBI report. “Not reporting is not something we would encourage,” she said.
Based on the FBI’s data, the number of Vancouver crimes per 1,000 residents was 39.96. Portland’s rate was 52.77.
Violent crime in Portland decreased from 3,445 incidents to 3,105, including a dip from 26 homicides to 19. Property crimes fell from 29,243 to 26,495.
The preliminary numbers will be updated later this year.
The FBI’s report did not include crime statistics for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office or other local police departments.
