The overall crime rate in Pittsburgh for 2013 was reduced by 6.6 percent over 2012, according to the city’s Department of Public Safety. The drop is credited, primarily, to a decrease in property crimes.
Violent crime is down by 2.6 percent, but when broken down into categories, all violent crime categories, except for robbery, increased. Robbery dropped 15.8 percent over 2012.
The number of rapes is up, but a news release from the Department of Public Safety attributed the rise to the inclusion of male victims in the Uniform Crime Reporting definition of rape.
Homicides were up by six in 2013, but the 10-year homicide average is down by two.
The full report includes charts showing when homicides occur by day of the week and time of day. The 118-page report has new features such as information on police expenditures, police training, and a Bureau of Police units section that has been retooled to be more directory-like, rather than written in narrative form.
