POLICE WORK, PROGRAMS LOWERED HOMICIDE RATE

Just a few years ago, Nashville's homicide rate climbed so high that
it sparked a sense of panic not only about the city's safety but its
future.

While Nashville's homicide rate climbed slowly during the 1990s to the
100+ range, in 1997, the murder rate hit 113. Making that statistic
more distressing was the fact that many big cities, including New York
and Los Angeles, were experiencing their lowest homicides rates in 20
years.

Before year's end in 1997, then-Mayor Phil Bredesen appointed a
committee to study ways to reduce violent crime in Nashville. Whether
it was ideas that surfaced from that committee, new priorities in the
police department, or other crime-related programs, something has
turned around Nashville's homicide rate. In 2002, Nashville's murder
rate was 65, the lowest it's been in 31 years.

Certainly, that is 65 tragedies that shouldn't have occurred. But the
steady decline in Nashville's homicide rate is not only worth
celebration, it's worth dissection so that Nashville keeps doing what
works.

Police Chief Emmett Turner credits the department's efforts to put
more officers on the streets in high-crime areas. That is undoubtedly
one factor.

But Nashville's made some other efforts that might not be as obvious
as the increased police presence. For example, 47 of those 113
homicides in 1997 were drug-related, and 24 were cases of domestic
violence. This city's drug court, which began in 1997, focuses on
treating the addictions of non-violent offenders. It's impossible to
say whether drug court has prevented homicides, but there's no doubt
it's made Nashville safer and turned offenders into productive
citizens. The city has also had a sustained, multi-faceted effort on
domestic violence that not only protects victims but treats abusers as
the serious criminals they are, and that alerts professionals outside
of law enforcement to the signs of domestic abuse.

A city's homicide rate doesn't simply float around arbitrarily.
Murders are averted by aggressive police work and preventative
programs. This city, seeing what can be accomplished, should take
every opportunity to build on its fine achievement.