TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - As 2017 comes to a close, we're taking a look back at crime in the Capital City and Leon County.
2017: a year of ups and downs for crime in Leon County. While several types of crime dropped from 2016, the county still had the highest crime rate in the state for a third straight year.
22 people have been killed in Leon County so far this year, though not all of them are considered murders.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's annual crime reports, the record for murders in a year in Leon County was 21 in 2015. We spoke with Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo in October about the violence.
"Each of these incidents, there's witnesses. But yet some of them, there's no one that's willing to talk to police and provide that information, and it's critical that there is some social responsibility and community ownership of what can we do to help," said Chief DeLeo. "If we don't want this behavior in our community, then people have to be willing to step forward and be part of the solution."
While the murders have headlined what seems to be a violent year, other data shows drops in overall crime and violent crime.
The Tallahassee Police Department has also made efforts to stop crime before it happens, installing safety cameras in the bond neighborhood and creating a program called T.E.M.P.O. to work with disconnected youth.
TPD has incorporated crime data from the Leon County Sheriff's Office to give a full overview of the community. The TOPS application was also upgraded recently.
Both Chief DeLeo and Sheriff Walt McNeil were unavailable for comment for Wednesday's report. We've reached out to both to ask them about their plans for the upcoming year.
