Des Moines Sun

Des Moines is struggling with an increase in homicide that exceeds the country's jump in the rate.

A 30% increase in homicides in the U.S. in 2020 represents the largest increase since the FBI started recording homicides in the 1960s, the Bureau said.

The FBI and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 21,570 Americans were murdered in 2020, compared to 16,425 in 2019. The previous largest increase in U.S. homicides, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, was a 20% rise from 2000 to 2001, due largely to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The homicide rate in the U.S. increased to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2020 after being at 6 homicides per 100,000 in 2019. The current rate is the highest since 1995 but hasn’t topped the rates of the 1980s, when there were 10 homicides per 100,000, according to the statistics center.

Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, told CNN it’s the largest increase in 100 years. 

"The only larger increase since we've been recording these data occurred between 1904 and 1905, and that increase was most likely — at least partly — the result of better reporting," Anderson said. "We had states being added to what we refer to as the death registration areas, so we were counting deaths in more areas over time. We didn't have all states reporting until 1933."

Violent crimes have increased in Iowa as well. Homicides have risen by more than 37% since 2018, while violent crimes have increased by 13.1% during that time, according to the FBI’s crime data.

The Des Moines homicide rate jumped 35% between 2019 and 2020. Overall, the crime rate in Des Moines is higher than that in 92% of U.S. cities.

Heather MacDonald, a scholar at the Manhattan Institute, called the rise in crime “astounding.” 

“The rise in crime we’ve seen since the George Floyd death and the riots over the summer is astounding" she said, according to the Independent Women's Forum. "Last year we saw the largest percentage increase in homicides in this nation’s history, and it’s gotten worse in 2021.” 

She said the rise in crime has more to do with the lack of policing than the pandemic. 

“The lie that the media says is that it’s all because of the pandemic ...,” she said on High Noon with Inez Stepman. “This is ridiculous, it has nothing to do with the pandemic. It’s all about deep policing. There has not been a comparable rise in homicides and shootings in Canada or in Europe, which have had even stricter lockdowns than we have.”

Police retirements are up 45% and resignations are up 18% in 2021 which MacDonald blamed on increased scrutiny, Fox News reported. In addition, there have been 75 ambush-style attacks on police officers, 241 officers shot and 44 killed in 2021, according to the National Fraternal Order of Police.