San Jose Crime Drops Precipitously

Earlier in the week the Merc had an article about San Jose's Homicide Rate (click here). It turns out that in 2010 there were only 20 homicides in San Jose. Until proven wrong, I'm going to assume that is the lowest homicide count of any city in the world with a population over 1 million.

To put it in perspective, San Francisco had more than double the number of homicides in the same time frame with a population 200k smaller than San Jose. Oakland--with only 400k residents--had 94 homicides. Detroit, which is now smaller than San Jose, had 308 homicides.

As an added bonus, out of the 20 San Jose homicides in 2010, NONE were in Downtown San Jose.

Just for fun I'm also reposting an old blog post below:


************

From 2008: San Jose Crime Rate

Just how safe is our city? Well let's take a look at some official crime statistics that I stumbled upon from the SJPD website. Between 1989 and 2008, our population grew from 757,964 to 989,496 yet homicides fell from 40 to 31, rape cases fell from 399 to 220, and aggravated assaults fell from 2,939 to 2,268. Let's put this in perspective. In 2008 San Francisco had a population nearly 200k LESS than San Jose and had 99 homicides, more than triple the San Jose rate. Oakland with a population of 420,183 in 2008 had a staggering 124 homicides. Detroit, the city closest to San Jose's population in 2008, had a mind-blowing 368 homicides. You often hear that San Jose is one of the safest large cities anywhere, but the proof is in the numbers.

Okay, one more fun statistic. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to how many 2008 homicides were in Downtown San Jose? Zero.

San Jose Crime Rate

Just how safe is our city? Well let's take a look at some official crime statistics that I stumbled upon from the SJPD website. Between 1989 and 2008, our population grew from 757,964 to 989,496 yet homicides fell from 40 to 31, rape cases fell from 399 to 220, and aggravated assaults fell from 2,939 to 2,268. Let's put this in perspective. In 2008 San Francisco had a population nearly 200k LESS than San Jose and had 99 homicides, more than triple the San Jose rate. Oakland with a population of 420,183 in 2008 had a staggering 124 homicides. Detroit, the city closest to San Jose's population in 2008, had a mind-blowing 368 homicides. You often hear that San Jose is one of the safest large cities anywhere, but the proof is in the numbers.

Okay, one more fun statistic. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to how many 2008 homicides were in Downtown San Jose? Zero.