Columbus Dispatch: City could top 100 homicides

September 08, 2003

Police seeking explanations for violent year

With nearly four months of 2003 remaining, Columbus has already surpassed the number of homicides it recorded in 2002

Columbus police say they have no explanation for the increase in homicides this year. It’s not the worst year: The city had 139 in 1991, many of which police connected to drug gangs. But the last time Columbus hit 100, which it likely will do this year if the pace continues, was in 1994.

"Just looking at what I have here, there is no particular pattern," said Lt. Mary Kerins, who is in charge of homicide detectives.

Kerins said she recently asked them to fill out a questionnaire on every homicide this year. The detectives already keep a computerized list of each homicide with the name of the victim; the assailant, if known; the address of the crime; and weapon used, if any.

But Kerins wants more information, anything that might shed light on the increased homicide rate. The information will be analyzed and put into a report, she said. "We are going to work on it to see if there is something that we can’t see."

Police are hoping to determine whether there are some common threads, some similar motives, in the deaths, detective Pat Dorn said. "You’re looking for that almighty answer."

Kerins said there always are unusual cases but "this seems to be an unusual year with many unusual cases."

Police records show that about 53 percent of the homicides through the end of last month have been solved. A total of 64 percent of all the homicides last year were resolved.

One professor says this year’s increase in homicides could be an aberration.

"Short-term fluctuations don’t signal much of anything," said Richard Lundman, a sociology professor at Ohio State University who focuses on crime.

It’s likely that homicide rates simply go through cycles, he said, "just like batting averages and golf scores and almost anything else."

Commentary:
OFCC prefers to see the "cycle" of homicide rates spiraling downward - a site not too common in Ohio cities these days, but one much more common occurrence in states in which citizens are legally allowed to choose to bear arms for self-defense.

Click here to read the entire story in the Columbus Dispatch.

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