TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The state released new data this week for all 67 counties and Leon County ranks first in overall crime rate for the fourth straight year.
The Tallahassee Police Department and the Leon County Sheriff's Office both saw significant drops in crime from 2016 to 2017 and that's where the focus is, continuing to bring those rates down in all categories.
We're looking at two different reports, an audit of more than 2,000 TPD cases and the 2017 Uniform Crime Report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The TPD audit found the department over-reported several types of crimes, while the FDLE report states overall crime in Leon County dropped 15 percent.
In other words, not only were there fewer incidents last year, but it's likely the city's numbers reported to the state were higher.
TPD Chief Michael DeLeo told the commission in March TPD is working with the auditor throughout 2018.
"To make sure that we continue to stay on the right track and to help us ensure that all the information from 2017 and 2018 that we're going to import into our new system that goes live in January 2019 is correct and accurate," said Chief DeLeo. "So, we're going to have a strong foundation moving into the future of accurate and valid information."
Chief DeLeo wasn't available for an interview for our special report after we took a closer look at the audit.
The sheriff said this is the lowest rate in five years but he's not satisfied.
Neither is Chief DeLeo but both agencies saw significant improvement last year.
When talking about Leon County having that high crime rate, we're breaking that down to see what the trends are saying.
