TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s overall crime rate is the lowest it’s been since the state began keeping data 45 years ago.
That’s the good news from statistics released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Friday. The bad news is that violent crimes like murder and rape increased in 2015 over the previous year.
There were 1,040 murders in Florida last year, up from 984 the year before. That includes 767 murders involving guns, an increase of 11.2 percent.
There were 7,537 reported rapes in Florida, an increase of 6.1 percent over 2014.
Still, Gov. Rick Scott proclaimed the state to be safer based on the overall number of crimes dropping 1.6 percent.
The crimes that went down last year include robberies, burglaries and larceny.
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