Violent crime is down overall, murders increase

A new F-B-I report shows the nation’s violent crime rate is down, but there’s a troubling trend when it comes to murder.The national stats show an increase in murders. The smaller the city, the bigger the increase. The number of homicides jumped nearly 16 percent in U.S. towns with fewer than 10-thousand residents. But the F-B-I has posted data on-line only for U.S. cities that have more than 100-thousand residents. Just two Iowa cities fit in that category — Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. The number of murders doubled in Cedar Rapids from 2002 to 2003, however, there were just four murders last year in Cedar Rapids. The state’s capitol city saw one less murder last year. There were eight homicides in Des Moines in 2003 compared to the nine murders in 2002.