Did Springfield Attempt To Hide Their Murder Rate From The FBI?
BY JEFF SKINNER
A new investigative report from independent journalists indicates that city officials in Springfield, Ohio may have attempted to hide the cities true murder rate by almost 40%. The report comes after a massive propaganda push, further propagated from the Springfield News-Sun, has listed the city in the top places to live in Ohio.
According to an investigative report from Investigative News Service, The Springfield City administration may have obscured crime data, typically required to be provided to the FBI, regarding the murder rate in the city by nearly 40%. According to an independent investigation, the city had previously reported 20 total murder victims between 2021 and 2024 and only reported a total of 2 murders in 2024 to the media. The independent investigation found the true number to be 34 total murders in the three year period. The report raises the Springfield, Ohio per capita murder rate to 14.7 per 100,000 people, far higher than the national average, which is 5 per 100,000. According to the report, Springfield officials were additionally forced to reveal the demographic information of the suspects. In an alarming revelation, SPD revealed that only one suspect was arrested for murder and obfuscated any demographic inquiry on the suspect by stating the race and ethnicity were ‘unknown.’
“Springfield was also forced to reveal the race of murderers to the FBI, Investigative News Services said. “Its revised figures showed thirty-four offenders committed murder for the years 2021 through 2024. Nineteen were black (55%), six were white (18%), and nine were of unknown race (26%.) Previously, Springfield Police falsely told the FBI all murderers except one were completely unknown. It had incorrectly reported [the] race of nearly all offenders as ‘not identified’ or ‘unknown.’ For the years 2021 through 2023, for instance, SPD claimed that only one person was arrested for murder—and that the identity, including race, of nearly all murderers was completely unknown.”
The move comes after the city has attempted through multiple avenues to obscure or block public scrutiny over the current administration by encrypting police dispatch channels and failing to prosecute crimes from Haitian immigrants that would otherwise lead to their deportation. At their June 3 Commissioners meeting, the city has acknowledged the discrepancy, though there has been little coverage of the difference in local news reporting.
Rather, The Springfield News-Sun pushed out a recent article highlighting Springfield as one of the ‘Top places to live” in the state. Author Michael Pitman interviewed Rob Rue for the piece to comment on the reportedly positive trajectory the city is currently on.
“The metrics are definitely positive, including our positive housing growth and housing prices,“ Rue said in the article. ”It’s very affordable to live in Springfield. In spite of what Springfield has been through the last several months, we are still facing forward momentum, which is very good.”
