By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
Oct. 30, 2002
Murders, rapes, burglaries and other violent crime in Meridian declined last year, according to nationwide statistics released Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
FBI statistics show the number of crimes in 2001 were down from the year before, giving the city its lowest crime rate since 1990.
Meridian Police Chief Benny DuBose said a strong and effective network of local law enforcement officers in the city and county is the main reason for the decrease.
Overall, the FBI statistics show that the city had 1,957 crimes reported in 2001. That figure was down from the 2,094 reported in 2000; 10 years earlier, in 1990, the city had a total of 1,951 reported crimes.
The only crime category that saw an increase last year was in robberies. DuBose said those numbers were high because of a spree of robberies in summer 2001.
The statistics give Meridian the lowest crime numbers among Mississippi's largest cities. The next lowest crime figures were reported in Tupelo.
Mayor John Robert Smith said the Meridian Police Department is "absolutely the best."