Improved medical care cited for reduced homicide rates

Homicide rates have fallen to a four-decade low nationally, according to a report released by the U.S. Justice Department. Improvements in traumatic injury care seem to explain some of the drop.

The nation's homicide rate fell to 4.8 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2010, the lowest in nearly 40 years. Much of that decline was in the nation's largest cities, those with a population of 1 million or more.

Oklahoma City's population grew to 579,999, according to 2010 census data. The same year there were 60 homicides in Oklahoma City, down from 75 in 2009.

The highest number of homicides in recent Oklahoma City history came in 1979 when 102 were investigated, despite the city having about 200,000 fewer residents at that time.

'Emergency rooms on wheels'

Oklahoma City Police Department Master Sgt. Gary Knight said the decline can be attributed, at least in part, to better medical care for victims of shootings and stabbings.

"One of the driving forces is the fact now we have what amounts to emergency rooms on wheels with highly trained people manning them," Knight said. "They're getting advanced care immediately. Back in the 1960s and 1970s a couple of people would show up to a crime scene in a station wagon and send you to the hospital."

Research backs up Knight's hypothesis.

A 2002 study by Harvard University found that homicide rates would be up to five times higher if not for advancements in critical injury care at hospitals and from first responders over the last 40 years.

EMSA spokeswoman Lara O'Leary said technology and speed are important factors in keeping shooting or stabbing victims from becoming homicide victims.

"The goal is to deliver the patient to a surgeon or physician within the golden hour," she said. "In the Oklahoma City metro and in Tulsa, the survival of a penetrating wound, whether or a stabbing or shooting is drastically increased by a finely tuned three-legged stool: the seamless cooperation of first responders, EMSA's paramedics and state-of-the-art equipment."

University of Oklahoma Department of Emergency Medicine Director Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe said the quality of those handling critical care cases has also improved.

"Thirty years ago, the field assessments were not as organized," he said. "Scene times were greatly prolonged with well-intentioned, but misguided care, and the destination hospital was the closest hospital regardless of its capability."

Still, he said technology can only go so far. He said training of first responders has become the most important tool in dealing with shooting or stabbing victims.

"Technology helps but ultimately it is committed professionals that make a difference between life and death whenever it can be made," Goodloe said.

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