Birmingham is approaching its ninetieth homicide for 2015, making this the city’s deadliest year since 2008.
The 87 homicides this year (as of this writing) stops and significantly reverses a three-year decline. In 2014 there were 59, versus 66 in 2013, and 72 in 2012. In the years prior to that, the numbers fluctuated — there were 57 in 2011, down from the 62 in 2010, which was down from 71 in 2009, the 88 in 2008, 93 in 2007 and the 109 in 2006. Ten years ago, in 2005, there were 105 homicides in Birmingham. (Nick Patterson, writing in WELD)
Why is this happening and what does it say about the city and the greater community? For more, WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley spoke with Nick Patterson, editor of the weekly newspaper WELD. Patterson discusses why officials think the homicide rate is up, and what the City of Birmingham is planning with its newly-declared war on crime.