Aggravated assaults up in Dayton despite overall decline in crime
Too early to say for sure what might be driving trend, police chief says.
Gun violence and some crimes involving fifi re arms have surged this year in Dayton, and police officials say they are trying to figure out why this is happening and what to do about it.
While crime is down overall, the city has seen signifificant increases in aggravated assaults, weapons violations and domestic violence involving firearms, according to Dayton Police Department data.
Dayton police Chief Richard Biehl said signifificant changes in crime levels usually occur because of multiple factors, andit’s still too early to say what might be driving these trends.
“Until we dive into those individual cases and get more information about the nature of the the individuals and what may be the source of — the ‘motive’ of it ... a lot of those questions are going to be unknown in the short term,” Biehl said.
Some researchers believe the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated some of the conditions underlying violence. Those conditions include poverty, unemployment, hopelessness, loss, isolation and lack of resources.
Through Nov. 9, the Dayton Police Department recorded 463 incidents of gun violence, which is up nearly 13% from the same period in 2019, according to police data.
There have also been 582 reported aggravated assaults — a 17% increase from last year — and domestic and intimate partner violence offenses involving a firearm have jumped 46% (44 incidents).
With the exception of aggravated
assaults, every other Part I violent crime category has seen a major decrease this year. This includes forcible rape (down 37%), homicide (-21%), aggravated robbery (-21%) and robbery (-10%).
Overall, crimehasdropped 5% in 2020.
Some t ypes of vio - lent crime, like homicide, increased this summerin cities across the nation during the pandemic and following widespread civil unrest and protests about social justice and police brutality.
However, crime dropped in early and mid-summer, Biehl said.
“Whatever influence the events of late May had, this community did not respond by an escalation of violent crime,” he said. “So that says a lot about the character ... of our community.”
But after that, aggravated assaults increased about 20% between August and early November, compared to the same period last year.
There were 203 assaults, which compares to previous three-year average of 151 during the same threemonth stretch.
More than half of assaults this year involved a firearm (110), and assaults involving guns are primarily responsible for the growth in this category.
The trend also predates the pandemic: In the last 12 months, aggravated assaults are up about 22%.
Biehl said it is difficult to tellwhat might explain these increases based on the information currently available.
He promised police will dig deeper into these cases to try to identify patterns and get some answers.
Biehl said some of the violence is conflict betweenpeople who have longstanding grievances and hostility toward each other.
Some incidents are drug related, he said, while others stemfromdomestic problems.
Biehl said it’s possible that during the pandemic residentshavehadmore interactions with people withwhom theyhaveahistoryofconflict.
He said police have received more calls about intimate partner conflicts.
Police calls for mental health issues and attempted suicides have soared, which suggests thepandemicis putting additional stress on the community, Biehl said.
But again, he cautioned, the trends are not easy to explain because thenumbers bounced around at different times of the year.
Even without knowing exactlywhy violent assaults and gun violence are increasing, police still cantake intervention measures that hopefully will lead to fewer incidents, Biehl said.
A large number of violent crimes are committed by a small portion of the population, and police will focus resources on getting the most violent offenders off the streets, he said.
Police also focus on crime hotspots and high-incident locations. Aggravatedassaults have increased most in the West Patrol Operations Division, and resources will be focused there, Biehl said.
Police are mapping crime incidents to try to prevent short-term patterns from developing into long-term trends, he said.
Some people believe that added stress from the coronavirus pandemic could be contributing to public safety problems.
Violence in the homemay increase in frequency and severity as household members, including intimate partners, children, and vulnerable elders, spend more time at home together under high-stress conditions, said Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, assistant professor and professional researcher with the ViolencePreventionResearch Program at theUniversity of California, Davis.
She said there’s also added risk if people have a firearm readily available.
Someguncontroladvocacy groups claim increased gun sales and ownership make communities less safe and increase the likelihood of gun violence.
Gun-rights groups strongly dispute these claims.
Gun sales and FBI firearm background checks are soaring in Ohio. Biehl said he’s seen no evidence that increased gun sales are leading to increasedgunviolence.