Welcome to

Florida is a safer state than it was a year ago according to a mid-year crime report.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement report shows crime dropping five percent during the first six months of this year, when compared to statistics from January to June last year. While the overall volume of crime has dropped, FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey says there’s been a slight uptick in murders.

“There were 17 more murders during this six month period than there were in the first six months of 2009, reflecting a 3.6 percent increase in the volume of murders in our state. But overall and the message I want to convey to you today is that violent crime is down 10.7 percent and nonviolent crime is down 3.8 percent,” said Bailey.

It’s a fairly common belief that bad economic times lead to higher crime rates, but today’s statistics seem contrary to those beliefs. Also many of the law enforcement officers we spoke with today say there’s no hard evidence linking the economy and high crime rates.