Rise in violent crime alarms US

The US saw a major drop in crime during the 1990s

Violent crime in the US last year rose at the fastest rate in 15 years, according to figures from the FBI.

A nationwide spike in killings meant 2005 saw a 2.5% rise in crimes such as murder, robbery and rape - the first increase for four years.

Of the regions, the Midwest saw the biggest jump in violent crime, at 5.7%.

Officials downplayed the figures pointing out that crime is at an historic low, but some critics accuse the government of complacency.

Crime rates dropped significantly during the 1990s, when many cities carried out programmes to specifically target the problem - and have remained flat since 2001.

"This is a relatively small uptick in crime, but one that should have a thunderous impact," criminologist James Fox, of Northeastern University in Boston, told the AFP news agency.

"Hopefully in Washington, it will be seen as a wake-up call to get back to the task of fighting crime the way we're fighting terrorism."

'Best practices'

Murders rose by 4.7% - equating to 16,900 victims - in 2005, the preliminary data from the FBI shows.

While robberies rose by 1.9%, reported rapes fell by 1.9%.

VIOLENT CRIME 2005 Cities with 1m plus population - down 0.4% Cities with 500,000 to 1m - up 8.3% Cities, 250,000 to 500,000 - up 2.9% Cities, 100,000 to 250,000 - up 3.4% Midwest - up 5.7% West - up 1.9% South - up 1.8% Northeast - 1.4%

Major cities such as Detroit, Los Angeles and New York saw a fall in violent crime.

But smaller cities suffered the worst rises in violent crime. Cities with a population of up to 250,000 saw the largest spike in murders, at 12.5%.

Police in Houston attributed some of their increase in violent crime to gang members who were evacuated from New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina last September, the Associated Press reports.

"Our large cities seem to be doing something right," Regina Schofield, of the US Justice Department's bureau of statistics, said.

"We need to find out what's going on in the smaller cities, how can we partner with them where it's needed, and how can we best apply these best practices to the smaller cities."

A final report with more complete data is expected to be released later in the year.