FBI Report: Crime on the Rise in Providence
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Crime in the capital city increased in nearly every measurable category from 2009 to 2010, according to the FBI’s annual Crime in the United States report, which measures criminal statistics in over 18,000 cities nationwide under its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.
Of the ten categories tracked (Violent crime, Murder, Forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, property crime, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson), crime increased in all but two groups (larceny-theft and arson).
There was one more murder, 12 more forcible rapes, 31 more robberies, 101 more property crimes and 187 more burglaries between 2009 and 2010 in Providence. The report only tracks cities with more than 100,000 residents. By comparison, crime in New Haven, Hartford and Worcester was down in nearly every measureable category.
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According to the FBI’s website, the UCR program is cooperative statistical effort that involves city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention. The program’s primary objective is to generate reliable information for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management; however, its data have over the years become one of the country’s leading social indicators.
Criminologists, sociologists, legislators, municipal planners, the media, and other students of criminal justice use the data for varied research and planning purposes. In 2010, law enforcement agencies active in the UCR Program represented more than 300 million United States inhabitants (97.4 percent of the total population). The coverage amounted to 98.4 percent of the population in Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 92.3 percent of the population in cities outside metropolitan areas, and 92.7 percent of the population in nonmetropolitan counties.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III said the 2010 statistics should serve as a reminder about the need to keep neighborhoods in this country safe.
“The publication of the 2010 national crime statistics reminds us that national security is as much about keeping our streets safe from crime as it is about protecting the United States from terrorism,” he said.”The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, Crime in the United States, 2010, indicates that, overall, crime decreased in our nation last year. While this information is encouraging as a whole, when properly analyzed, these data also provide valuable insight into the nature and volume of crime in small and large communities alike.”
National Numbers
While Providence’s numbers were on the rise, the 2010 statistics nationally show that the estimated volumes of violent and property crimes declined 6.0 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, when compared with the 2009 estimates. The violent crime rate for the year was 403.6 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants (a 6.5 percent decrease from the 2009 rate), and the property crime rate was 2,941.9 offenses per 100,000 persons (a 3.3 percent decrease from the 2009 figure).
Nationwide in 2010, there were an estimated 1,246,248 violent crimes, but violent crime offenses decreased when compared with the 2009 estimates. Robbery had the largest decrease at 10.0 percent, followed by forcible rape with a 5.0 percent decline, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter with a 4.2 percent decrease, and aggravated assault with a 4.1 percent decline.
Mueller said the FBI will continue to work with police departments across the county to produce more timely information about crime to communities.
“More than 18,000 law enforcement agencies participate in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program to provide crime statistics that are used in many real-world applications,” he said. “It is for these partners and those who analyze the resulting data that the FBI is especially pleased to further the evolution of the UCR program. Over the next two years, the UCR Program will continue its redevelopment project, incorporating improved technology that will provide enhanced features and additional, more timely information to the criminal justice community, government agencies, researchers, students, and others.”
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