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A preliminary FBI report on crime nationwide indicated that violent crimes were on the rise in Houston at a greater rate than the rest of the country, but HPD officials say the real statistics tell a different story.

The FBI report shows violent crimes rose by 5.9 percent in Houston in 2006, compared to a 3.7 percent rise nationwide. 

But the HPD says that when the statistics are adjusted to include the expanding population, violent crimes only rose 2.1 percent this year. 

“Well, my initial reaction is it’s dated material.  If you look at what they’re reporting, they’re reporting things up through June.  But if you look at the picture today, it’s a different story,” Houston Police Department spokesperson Captain Dwayne Ready said.

According to the FBI numbers, murders in Houston were up a staggering 28 percent in 2006.

The city of Houston’s raw statistics say murder is up more than 18 percent this year.

But HPD officials say even the city’s statistics are excluding a major factor: a population increase of more than 140,000 people.

“Obviously you had a big population increase.  You had a big increase in cases in which both victims and perpetrators are from Louisiana.  That spiked it,” victim’s rights advocate Andy Kahan said.

When the population increase is factored in, the murder rate is still up 11 percent, but violent crimes as a whole – including forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault – are down 4 percent, a number the city says more accurately reflects the rate of crime in the area.

“In the last three years since I’ve been mayor, we’ll have less total violent crime than the three years before I was mayor...even though we have a much larger population,” Mayor Bill White said.

But everyone involved concedes that even an 11 percent spike in the murder rate is nothing to dismiss.

The mayor says the police department’s budget has been increased by more than $100,000,000 – and that’s not counting the millions more being spent on overtime pay.

Raw data from the preliminary FBI crime statistics report:

Houston – 2005 Pop. 2,045,732

Violent Crime              

’05--  11,539

’06--  12,216

Murder

’05--  158

’06--  202

Forcible Rape

’05--  446

’06--  445

Robbery

’05--  5,109

’06--  5,635

Aggravated Assault

’05--  5,826

’06--  5,934

Dallas – 2005 Pop. 1,230,303

Violent Crime              

’05--  7,502

’06--  7,498

Murder

’05--  106

’06--  101

Forcible Rape

’05--  275

’06--  327

Robbery

’05--  3,238

’06--  3,382

Aggravated Assault

’05--  3,883

’06--  3,688

San Antonio – 2005 Pop. 1,256,584

Violent Crime              

’05--  3,939

’06--  3,645

Murder

’05--  41

’06--  67

Forcible Rape

’05--  280

’06--  280

Robbery

’05--  844

’06--  1,146

Aggravated Assault

’05--  2,774

’06--  2,152

To view the complete FBI report, click here.