Violent crimes up, but crime rate down in Cape

CAPE CORAL, Fla. The number of violent crimes is on the rise in the city, but it’s still the safest in Florida for violent crime relative to its population, Police Chief Dave Newlan said.

Total crime in the city declined by 0.9 percent from 2015 to 2016, police said, citing Florida Department of Law Enforcement statistics. The number of violent crimes went up, from 200 in 2015 to 224 last year.

The city’s index crime rate — which measures the number of crimes relative to population — decreased 3.2 percent.

“That’s excellent,” Cape Coral Police Cpl. Philip Mullen said. “We always want it to go down. We’re working every year to drop that.”

Murder, sex offenses, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle thefts are included in the index crime rate calculations. Police in the city are focusing heavily on curbing car burglaries, Mullen said.

Non-violent crimes are down from 3,136 in 2015 to 3,081 last year. Mullen credits a strong relationship between residents and police, as well as a proactive approach from people who live in the city.

“They’re always calling in problems as soon as they happen so we can focus on them early before the real problems,” he said.