Orlando's Homicide Rate Soars

Murder is Up 45 Percent Compared With the Same Time Last Year

The number of homicides in greater Orlando for 2010 have surpassed the total number of 2009 slayings, according to the Orlando Sentinel. This week marked the 45th killing of the year, compared with 33 last year.

Why?

"It's very difficult to prevent a homicide," sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons told the Sentinel. "Usually a homicide is a spur of the moment, emotional act."

The Sheriff's Office has focused its efforts on trying to prevent violent crime by taking illegal guns and drugs, which could potentially lead to murder, off the streets, Solomons said.

Detectives and experts have long struggled to find a reason behind the rise and fall in homicides, and have mostly come up empty, reported the Sentinel.

Investigators have seen increases this year in domestic violence-related killings, which account for about one-third of the county's homicides so far this year. University of Central Florida sociology professor Jay Corzine said those slayings could be tied to the economic collapse.

"The poor economic conditions are affecting families," Corzine told the Sentinel, adding that the high foreclosure rate in the county could also be a contributing factor.

Deputies fear that the homicide rate could reach the high levels it did in 2008, when 73 people were slain.

"There is always a concern that we could go back to those record levels," Solomons told the Sentinel. "That is why we do things proactively, but sometimes it's just the way the cards fall.

"We could go a month without one and then we could have a three in a nine- to 12-hour period."

To read more: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-11-08/news/os-murders-orange-county-20101019_1_homicide-rate-orange-county-homicides-slayings