Homicides down in some large U.S. cities

"This is a bad year," Columbus police Cmdr. Richard Bash said. "It's extremely serious, in all honesty. We have a lot of victims and victims' families that are devastated."

Columbus police attributed the jump in killings to a rise in gang violence. However, they also said the 2007 homicide rate was atypically low, making the 2008 number look all the more grim.

Washington, D.C., ended 2008 with 186 homicides, up from 181 in 2007.

Among smaller cities, troubled Gary, Ind., recorded 51 homicides during 2008 — down 28 percent from the 71 recorded during 2007, but still one of the highest rates by population in the country.

There were 55 homicide victims in Camden, N.J., one of the deadliest years ever in the city that regularly ranks among the nation's most crime-ridden. But homicides in Newark, N.J., fell to 67 — an eight-year low.

'Redouble our efforts'
New Orleans saw 179 murders, a 15 percent drop from the 210 in 2007. While the city's shifting population has been hard to measure, even the largest estimates would still mean the Crescent City is among the nation's most homicidal places per-capita.

"We need to redouble our efforts to do everything in our power ... to reduce crime," said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission, noting that responsibility falls on citizens, public officials and other parts of the criminal justice community, not just the police.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley said the department is bolstering police presence in 11 so-called "hot spots," more quickly clearing major drug and homicide cases and improving its standing in the community. It's a safer city than it was a year and two ago, he said.

"Have we reduced crime to the level that we can say it is absolutely a turnaround? No," Riley said. "But have we made reasonable progress? Yes."

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