It's time for the San Francisco crime mid-year report card, and we're not doing so great -- homicide rates are up 20% from last year.

The SFPD reports that drug-related homicides are up (15 for the year so far, compared to only 13 all year in 2006), spontaneous violence is up, and fatal stabbings are up (10 for the year so far, as opposed to 8 all last year). On the bright side, gang-related homicides are down, which the SFPD credits to the expansion of their gang task force. As of yesterday for 2007, we're at 54 murders (45 at this point last year).

This report didn't say anything about non-fatal violence, though anecdotally (i.e., what we read in the CBS 5 and ABC 7 Bay City News briefs), it seems like a lot more people are getting hurt, but the good folks at SF General are doing a heroic job saving them. Does anyone know if serious injuries are actually up, or is it just that we've started looking at this lately?