Robbery Cases in Gainesville, FL Rose Rapidly in 2020

Courtesy of The Center Square

BY SAMUEL STEBBINS

Driven by a surge in homicides and an increase in cases of aggravated assault, the U.S. violent crime rate rose in 2020, according to data from the FBI. One bright spot in the latest data, however, was a year-over-year decline in reported robberies.

Robbery is a crime in which force or the threat of force or violence is used to take, or attempt to take, anything of value from another person. The largest share of robberies in the United States are committed on streets or sidewalks. Handguns are the most commonly used weapon in robberies, and more often than not, among the cases where a suspect can be identified, the offender and victim are strangers to one another.

In the continuation of a multi-decade trend, the number of robberies committed in the U.S. fell from about 268,500 in 2019 to 243,600 in 2020, a 9% drop.

While cases of robbery are falling in much of the country, there are some exceptions. For example, in the Gainesville metropolitan area, located in Florida, the total number of reported robberies climbed by 20% – from 297 in 2019 to 356 in 2020. The resulting increase in the area’s population-adjusted robbery rate was one of the largest of any U.S. metro areas.

The reported robbery rate in Gainesville rose by 17.5 incidents for every 100,000 people from 2019 to 2020. Due in part to the increase, the metro area’s robbery rate of 107.6 reported incidents per 100,000 people is higher than the nationwide rate of 73.9 robberies per 100,000 people.

All crime data used in this story is from the FBI’s 2019 and 2020 Uniform Crime Reports. We considered all U.S. metropolitan areas for which the boundaries defined by the FBI match the boundaries as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Rank	Metro area	1-yr. increase in robbery rate (robberies per 100k people)	Robberies per 100k people, 2020	Total robberies in 2020	Total robberies in 2019
1	Rapid City, SD	30.9	79.9	115	69
2	Danville, IL	18.9	116.4	87	74
3	Gainesville, FL	17.5	107.6	356	297
4	Boulder, CO	17.5	42.7	140	83
5	Merced, CA	17.4	90.9	252	202
6	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	17.4	79.8	654	502
7	Dubuque, IA	17.3	26.7	26	9
8	Alexandria, LA	17.1	125.6	190	165
9	Ithaca, NY	15.9	34.5	35	19
10	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL	15.7	71.2	269	211
11	Owensboro, KY	14.0	42.6	51	34
12	Billings, MT	14.0	72.4	133	106
13	Sioux Falls, SD	13.5	39.9	109	71
14	Decatur, IL	13.2	81.8	84	71
15	Sioux City, IA-NE-SD	12.1	54.7	79	61
16	Greeley, CO	11.5	40.4	134	93
17	Grants Pass, OR	11.4	38.8	34	24
18	Bowling Green, KY	11.1	45.7	83	62
19	Cleveland, TN	10.6	56.3	71	57
20	Raleigh-Cary, NC	9.9	47.3	673	521
21	Enid, OK	9.7	24.6	15	9
22	Yakima, WA	9.3	65.8	165	142
23	Eau Claire, WI	9.3	24.7	42	26
24	Cedar Rapids, IA	9.3	42.3	116	90
25	Bend, OR	9.0	24.8	50	31
26	Great Falls, MT	8.6	34.3	28	21
27	Lawton, OK	7.5	84.2	106	96
28	Madera, CA	7.3	67.1	105	94
29	Yuba City, CA	7.2	79.5	139	126
30	Idaho Falls, ID	6.9	16.2	25	14
31	Kennewick-Richland, WA	6.8	43.8	133	111
32	Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL	6.5	77.9	395	355
33	Pittsfield, MA	6.0	42.9	53	46
34	Yuma, AZ	5.8	24.9	54	41
35	Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX	5.5	62.4	1,424	1,261
36	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	5.4	54.2	266	243
37	Albany-Lebanon, OR	5.0	23.7	31	24
38	Wausau-Weston, WI	4.9	12.3	20	12
39	Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT	4.9	60.5	614	565
40	Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ	4.8	26.2	33	27
41	Bellingham, WA	4.6	38.8	90	78
42	Wilmington, NC	4.4	61.5	186	171
43	Tyler, TX	4.2	40.1	94	83
44	Norwich-New London, CT	4.2	38.0	66	59
45	Kingston, NY	4.1	16.5	29	22
46	Charlottesville, VA	4.0	21.3	47	38
47	Missoula, MT	3.9	27.3	33	28
48	Saginaw, MI	3.8	49.2	93	86
49	Grand Junction, CO	3.7	36.3	56	50
50	Janesville-Beloit, WI	3.6	45.9	75	69