THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 24, 1995 TAG: 9510240289
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
The number of homicides in Hampton Roads increased last year while national numbers continued to fall, statistics show.
At the current pace, however, the number of local murders by year's end will dip from last year's total. Local homicides have been declining generally since 1991, and the number of national homicides has been falling for the past three years.
In 1994, there were 187 slayings in the seven Hampton Roads cities, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Hampton and Newport News.
That made the Hampton Roads homicide rate 14.4 per 100,000 residents last year, up from 13.7 in 1993.
A homicide rate is the number of people slain in a year per 100,000 residents.
The national homicide rate for 1994 was 9.7, a decrease from the previous year's 10.5.
If the murder rate remains constant, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach will show the biggest declines in Hampton Roads this year.
Virginia Beach is expected to end this year with 17 homicides, compared with 36 last year. Chesapeake should end 1995 with 10 slayings, down from 20 in 1994. Both cities set murder records last year.
At the current pace, Norfolk could drop below 50 slayings for the first time since 1988. Last year, 61 people were slain in Norfolk, just one less than in 1993. This year, the city could have 48 killings.
Portsmouth has surpassed its 1994 homicide total of 23. By Monday, 30 slayings had been recorded. Portsmouth could end the year with 36 homicide cases, which is about average for the past several years.
At the current rate, by New Year's Eve local detectives will have investigated about 160 homicides, down nearly 15 percent from 1994.
KEYWORDS: MURDER RATE STATISTICS by CNB