Manatee County’s Homicide Rate Highest in Tampa Bay Area

According to the latest statistics released by local law enforcement, Manatee County has the highest murder rate per capita in the Tampa Bay area with 22 murders so far in 2009.

Manatee County only had 22 murders over the course of the entire year in 2007. In 2009, Manatee County has a murder rate of 6.96 per 100,000 people. According to law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Census, this figure is more than three times the murder rate of other counties in the Tampa Bay area.

The same reports put Polk County at 3.1 homicides per 100,000 people, Hillsborough County at 2.2, Sarasota County at 2.15, Pasco County at 2.12, Pinellas County at 1.76 and Hernando County at 1.17.

Manatee’s homicide rate also tops Orlando’s Orange County, which has a 3.45 rate, and Ft. Lauderdale’s Broward County, which has a 1.2 rate.

2009′s 22 homicides appears to be the most in Manatee since at least 1971. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has worked 18 of the 22 murder cases this year. They have now formed a dedicated homicide unit with four full time detectives. Previously, the crimes against people unit, made up of seven detectives, handled any homicides along with robberies and batteries.

Bradenton’s police department has handled the other four homicides.

More than half of the murders this year are domestic, drug or gang related, according to law enforcement. Depending on the circumstances of the case and the specific crime alleged, someone charged with these homicides might face a sentence of 15 years to life in prison or even the death penalty.