page_title: Savannah, Georgia
section_title: Crime
hierarchical_section_title: Savannah, Georgia / Crime
caption_attribution_description: English: Map showing the 2009 police precincts of Savannah-Chatham Metro(GA)
context_page_description: Savannah is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. A strategic port city in the American Revolution and during the American Civil War, Savannah is today an industrial center and an important Atlantic seaport. It is Georgia's fifth-largest city, with a 2019 estimated population of 144,464. The Savannah metropolitan area, Georgia's third-largest, had an estimated population of 393,353 in 2019.
  Each year Savannah attracts millions of visitors to its cobblestone streets, parks, and notable historic buildings. These buildings include the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, the Georgia Historical Society, the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, the First African Baptist Church, Temple Mickve Israel, and the Central of Georgia Railway roundhouse complex.
context_section_description: The total number of violent crimes in the Savannah-Chatham County reporting area ran just above 1,000 per year from 2003 through 2006.  In 2007, however, the total number of violent crimes jumped to 1,163. Savannah-Chatham has recorded between 20 and 25 homicides each year since 2005.
  In 2007, Savannah-Chatham recorded a sharp increase in home burglaries but a sharp decrease in larcenies from parked automobiles. During the same year, statistics show a 29 percent increase in arrests for Part 1 crimes.
  An additional increase in burglaries occurred in 2008 with 2,429 residential burglaries reported to Savannah-Chatham police that year. That reflects an increase of 668 incidents from 2007. In 2007, there were 1,761 burglaries, according to metro police data.
  Savannah-Chatham police report that crimes reported in 2009 came in down 6 percent from 2008.
  In 2009, 11,782 crimes were reported to metro police — 753 fewer than in 2008. Within that 2009 number is a 12.2 percent decrease in violent crimes when compared with 2008. Property crimes saw a 5.3 percent decline, which included a 5.2 percent reduction in residential burglary. In 2008, residential burglary was up by almost 40 percent. While some violent crimes increased in 2009, crimes like street robbery went down significantly. In 2009, 30 homicides were reported, four more than the year before. Also, 46 rapes were reported, nine more than the year before. In the meantime, street robbery decreased by 23 percent.  In 2008, metro police achieved a 90 percent clearance rate for homicide cases, which was described as exceptional by violent crimes unit supervisors. In 2009, the department had a clearance rate of 53 percent, which police attributed to outstanding warrants and grand jury presentations.
  The SCMPD provide the public with up to date crime report information through an online mapping service. This information can be found here.
  2015 saw a dramatic increase in the number of violent crimes, including at least 54 deaths due to gun violence, a number not seen since the early 1990s.
  The first quarter of 2018 saw crime trending downward, compared to 2017.
caption: Map showing precincts of Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department
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