By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist

In a newly released report by the FBI, the violent crime rate in the U.S. dropped in 2009 for the third straight year, and the property crime rate fell for the seventh consecutive year.

According to the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, the violent crime rate in 2009 declined 5.5 percent from 2008. Figures compiled from 13,000 law enforcement agencies around the country found a decline in all four categories of violent crime last year. Robbery was down 8.1 percent; murder, 7.2 percent; aggravated assault, 4.2 percent; and forcible rape, 3.1 percent.

All overall categories of property crime also decreased compared to 2008. Motor vehicle theft was down 17.2 percent; larceny-theft, 4.2 percent; and burglaries, 1.7 percent. Arson declined across the board, with reported decreases across all population groups and all four regions of the country—11.6 percent in the West, 10.6 percent in the South, 9.2 percent in the Midwest, and 8.6 percent in the Northeast.

The FBI issues this report every year in order to get the information as quickly as possible into the hands of those who need it most— local law enforcement and community leaders who are in positions to implement effective crime strategies.

“However, despite the decreases we have noted in 2009 crime levels, law enforcement agencies around the country—including the FBI—have not lessened efforts to investigate these crimes,” the report says, “and we continue to work with one another to develop strategies to combat and prevent violence and crime in our communities.”

These preliminary numbers will be updated later this year.

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