Some of that might explain why, in the first half of 2018, crime in Opa-
- The number of reported robberies rose from 10 to 52.
- Aggravated assaults increased from 21 to 140.
- Burglaries jumped from 16 to 80.
- Larcenies (which include pickpocketing, shoplifting, bicycle theft, smash-and-grab vehicle thefts, and some other property thefts) grew from 65 to 296.
Police Chief James Dobson did not respond to a request from New Times to discuss the data. While crime appears to have risen precipitously from 2017 to 2018, the statistics for the first half of 2018 actually aren't much different from the first half of 2016 or 2015. Andrew Axelrad, an attorney for the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association who has been negotiating the city's contract with officers, says this year's statistics could reflect that police have been more accurately reporting existing crime levels.
"The dip last year, to me, is kind of more questionable," he says.
What has worsened over time is Opa-
"The clearance rate is what strikes me as being extremely low for the crimes we're talking about," Axelrad says. "I think that certainly is a function of a lack of personnel and just running from call to call, being in
Officers have also been arresting far fewer people. In the first half of 2015, Opa-
The crime report for all of 2018 won't be available until the middle of next year, but news stories paint a grim picture of the city's progress: In October, a driver was shot and killed in a road rage incident, while earlier this month, a man was gunned down by his coworker at a car wash. And on Monday, a pregnant 33-year-old woman was fatally shot while sitting in a car with her 13-year-old daughter, who was also injured.