FBI Report: Crime in Royal Oak Decreased in 2010

News of a Monday night in her Royal Oak apartment overlapped with a national crime report released the same day by the FBI, which shows violent crimes in the city dropped in 2010.

Violent crimes dropped 11 percent in the city compared to the previous year, going from 99 to 88 cases, the report said.

While incidents in most crime categories dropped in Royal Oak, the city had one additional arson for a total of seven, and there was a 9 percent jump in burglary cases, up from 162 in 2009 to 176 in 2010.

There was one reported murder last year. , 53, of Royal Oak was shot July 13, 2010, in his driveway and was pronounced dead at Beaumont Hospital.

The decrease in Royal Oak crime follows suit with national crime statistics, outlined in the Crime in the United States report.

Nationally, violent crimes dropped 6 percent in 2010 compared with 2009, the fourth consecutive year of decline. For the eighth consecutive year, the volume of property crimes went down as well, by 2.7 percent.

The report was compiled from data submitted to the FBI by more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies from around the nation. It tracks the number of reported murders and non-negligent manslaughters, forcible rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larceny-thefts, motor vehicle thefts and arsons.

Mayor Jim Ellison said he was very happy the numbers have gone down in Royal Oak.

"I hope this is an indication that people are becoming more aware of their surroundings and are taking more caution in protecting themselves and their property," said Ellison.

"The police cannot be everywhere," he said. "However, I think that our police officers do a great job in not only being highly visible, but also in responding and solving the crimes that occur. We are blessed to have a very good police department in our city."

Lt. Tom Goad of the said he would like to look at the trend over the past five years before commenting on whether he was satisfied with the numbers in this report.

"Am I happy violent crime went down from 2009 to 2010? You betcha," he said. When comparing Royal Oak's 11 percent drop in violent crime to the nation's 6 percent drop, Goad said Royal Oak should be doing better than the rest of the country because it's "an above-average community with great people who care about what goes on and get involved."

Here are Royal Oak's crime statistics, as reported by the FBI:

Correction: The figures for violent crime for 2010 and 2009 were transposed in the original report.