Florida’s crime rate continues to drop. Florida Department of Law Enforcement data show a 2.2 percent decrease between the first half of last year and the first half of this year.
And the drop in crime was much larger in a couple of Northeast Florida counties.
Putnam County had more than 28 percent less crime in 2015 than during the same period a year earlier. The county had about half the amount of robberies, as well as significantly fewer burglaries and larcenies. Putnam’s rate dropped despite a near doubling in the number of rapes and murders, but those were relatively tiny numbers.
St. Johns County also saw a sharp crime rate drop of more than 19 percent, with across-the-board decreases in every category except murder.
Meanwhile Clay and Nassau counties also saw drops of about 8 percent and about 7 percent, respectively.
And Duval County’s crime rate changed the least, with a drop of just over 1 percent.
