A nonprofit says a Delaware city has seen its crime rate increase faster than police spending, which it more than doubled over the past 20 years.
The News Journal of Wilmington reports the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy found Wilmington's crime rate jumped by 148% since the mid-1990s while police spending increased by 65%. The findings are based on U.S. Census data for the country's most populous cities and the largest in each state.
City shootings and homicides increased in 2017 by 35% and 22%, respectively. The data says Wilmington had a population of about 71,000 in 2016 and spent about $932 per person on policing, more than double the national average. Personnel, hospital and overtime costs make up 86% of the department's approved 2019 budget.
