Violent Crime & Firearm Use in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Co. FL

St. Petersburg summary: Over a three year period, 2015-17 data on violent crime reveals:

  • 55% of criminal homicides involved a firearm
  • 2% of sex offenses involved a firearm
  • 36% of robberies involved a firearm
  • 29% of aggravated assaults involved a firearm
  • ** 29% of all violent crimes involved a firearm

Pinellas County summary: Over a 22 year period, 1996-2017 data on violent crime reveals:

  • 55% of murders involved a firearm, a pattern that trended upward during the period
  • 12% of manslaughters involved a firearm; pattern trended downward during a period
  • 1% of forcible sex crimes involved a firearm
  • 32% of robberies involved a firearm
  • 16% of aggravated assaults involved a firearm; pattern trended upward during a period

St. Petersburg Data: 2015-17       

  2015 2016 2017 Annual totals/average % of category
Criminal homicide 17 28 24 69/23
Firearm involved 10 15 13 38/13 55%
Sex offenses 185 122 136 443/148
Firearm involved 3 1 4 8/2.7 2%
Robbery 573 556 499 1628/543
Firearm involved 182 212 195 589/196 36%
Aggravated assault 1126 1029 1187 3342/1114
Firearm involved 329 308 337 974/325 29%
Total violent crimes 1898 1727 1846 5471/1824
Firearm involved 524 535 549 1608/536 29%

Sources:

  1. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement, FL Uniform Crime Reports 2015-17, provided by St. Petersburg Police Department
  2. Centers for Disease Control data by county
    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/florida/florida.htm
  3. Centers for Disease Control, Firearm Mortality Data https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
  4. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement, Crime Data by Jurisdiction 1996-2017
    http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/Data-Statistics/UCR-Offense-Data.aspx
  5. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement Uniform Crime Statistics, Domestic Violence
    http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/Data-Statistics/UCR-Domestic-Violence

Every 16 hours an intimate partner with a gun kills a woman in the U.S.  Domestic violence assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to end in death than assaults with other weapons.

Summary: 

In St. Petersburg during the 3 year period 2015-17, domestic violence was involved in:

  • 14.5% of criminal homicides
  • 24% of sex offenses
  • 27% of aggravated assaults
  • 51.5% of simple assault, threats, and stalking

We do not know how frequently firearms were used in domestic violence.  If the frequency of firearm use for each category above holds true for domestic violence, we can estimate that:

  • over half of criminal homicides involving domestic violence involved a firearm
  • one-quarter of sex offenses & aggravated assaults involved a firearm

In St. Petersburg during the 3 year period 2015-17, in instances of violent crime involving domestic violence, arrests were made 54% of the time.  In instances of simple assault, threats and stalking involving domestic violence, arrests were made 40% of the time.
In the state of Florida, the murder rate in domestic violence cases rose from 162 in 2017 to 196 in 2018 or 20.9 %.  Rape cases increased by 13% from 1580 to 1783 during this period.

Sources:

  1. Centers for Disease Control data by county
    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/states/florida/florida.htm
  2. Centers for Disease Control, Firearm Mortality Data
    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
  3. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement, Crime Data by Jurisdiction 1996-2017
    http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/Data-Statistics/UCR-Offense-Data.aspx
  4. FL Dept. of Law Enforcement Uniform Crime Statistics, Domestic Violence
    http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/Data-Statistics/UCR-Domestic-Violence

        – updated January 2020