Crime Rate Drops In Midland In 2012; Rape And Aggravated Assault Cases Rise

MIDLAND -- Midland saw a drop in crime in 2012, but the tall city saw rise in assault and rapes.

    The Tall City released their 2012 crime stats on Friday.

    The numbers show that commonly reported and serious -- or part I -- crimes dropped by 5.88  percent from 2011 to 2012.

    All forms of robbery, burglary and theft saw decreases in 2012, with burglary seeing a 21.82 percent decrease.

    However, rape was up 15 percent from 2011 figures.

    Aggravated assault was up 27.38 percent in 2012.

    Murder was the one statistic that remained the same.

    There were 4 murder or manslaughter incidents in the Tall City in 2012.

    There were also 4 murder or manslaughter incidents in Midland in 2011.

    Midland's crime rate has fallen in 8 of the last 9 years.

    The number of reported Part I crimes has declined each year since 2004, with the exception of 2009 (when 4,360 were reported).

    The largest reductions were in the categories of robbery and burglary.

    The Midland Police Department has continued its burglary reduction strategy, which was implemented in June 2009.

    There were a total of 909 reported burglaries in 2009, and the new strategy has helped reduce reported burglaries a total of 38.5 percent in the time since.

Here's the official 2012 Midland crime statistics:

Crime increase/decrease     2011     2012     Percent
Murder & Manslaughter         4         4         0%
by Negligence
Forcible Rape                      20       23       +15%
Robbery                              58       52      (-10.34%)
Aggravated Assault             252     321     +27.38%
Burglary                             715     559     (-21.82%)
Theft                                 2,435   2,313   (-5.01%)
Auto Theft                         137       136    (-0.73%)
Total Part I                        3,620   3,407   (-5.88%)