SNOHOMISH COUNTY- Crime Statistics Released

The Herald has summarized the 2011 crime statistics for cities in Snohomish County based on the recently released annual report from the FBI, “Crime in the United States.”

Herald article:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20121113/BLOG41/121109762#FBI-shares-data-for-2011-crimes-by-community

FBI report “Crime in the United States:”

(http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/index-page ).”

For example, crime in Everett, compared to 2010, showed a decrease in rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, larceny/thefts, and motor vehicle thefts. The number of murders in Everett remained the same (5) compared to 2010. However, there was an increase in burglaries.

The latest statistics for unincorporated Snohomish County comes from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs website (http://www.waspc.org/index.php?d=54 ). The latest complete figures are for 2009 and 2010:

Year	Violent Total	Murder	Forcible Rape	Robbery	Aggravated Assault
2010	487	4	77	98	308
2009	546	10	80	126	330

 

Year	Property Total		Arson	Burglary	Larceny/Theft	Motor Vehicle Theft
2010	5,484		39	1,772	2,979	694
2009	6,096		53	2,228	3,063	752
Year	Crime Total
2010	5,971
2009	6,642

The total numbers show a slight decrease in each category from 2009 to 2010.

Some other interesting national crime statistics from the FBI:

2011 Crime Clock Statistics:

A violent crime occurred every        26.2 seconds

One murder every                               36.0 minutes

One forcible rape every                       6.3 minutes

One robbery every                              1.5 minutes

One aggravated assault every             42.0 seconds

 

A property crime occurred every      3.5 seconds

One burglary every                             14.4 seconds

One larceny-theft every                      5.1 seconds

One motor vehicle theft every           44.1 seconds

 

A law enforcement agency can “clear” or “close” an offense by making an arrest or through exceptional means (through the death of an offender, a victim’s refusal to cooperate with prosecution, or denial of extradition). According to the FBI, each class of crime is cleared as follows:

Violent Crimes:

• Murder- 64.8%
• Forcible rape- 41.2%
• Robbery- 28.7%
• Aggravated assault- 56.9%

Property Crimes:

• Burglary- 12.7%
• Larceny-theft- 21.5%
• Motor vehicle theft- 11.9%

Several factors probably account for the better clearance rates of violent crimes over property crimes:

1. Law enforcement agencies across the country emphasize going after violent crime offenders because these crimes involve the potential of injury and death to people. As a result, law enforcement agencies put much effort into solving violent crime cases and have developed sophisticated techniques to identify suspects.
2. Property crimes usually involve either theft of property or damage to property. Property can be replaced. Also, determining the offender can be extremely difficult. Most property crimes are discovered after a home or business has been broken into with no witnesses to give suspect information to the law enforcement agency. This is why many local law enforcement agencies encourage Neighborhood Watch programs to take steps to prevent crime, to report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods, to keep a list of their more valuable belongings, and increasingly to put up cameras on their property.