FBI Report Shows Property Crimes Decrease Again in 2006
For the fourth year in a row the estimated number of property crimes decreased, according to statistics released by the FBI’s 2006 edition of “Crime in the United States,” a statistical compilation of offense and arrest data as reported by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation The FBI collected these data via the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
The FBI estimated the volume of property crime decreased by 1.9 percent in 2006 when compared with 2005 figures. The estimated rate of property crime was 3,334.5 per 100,000 inhabitants (a 2.8-percent decline).
Property crimes are the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson, as defined by the FBI. Though the FBI classifies arson as a property crime, it does not estimate arson data in its report because of variations in the level of participation at the agency level. Consequently, arson is not included in the estimated property crime total.
The UCR Program also collects arrest data for property crimes as well as additional offenses that include all other offenses except traffic violations. In 2006, more than 17,500 city, county, college and university, state, tribal, and federal agencies voluntarily participated in the UCR Program. These agencies represented 94.2 percent of the nation’s population.
Property crime at a glance
There were an estimated 9,983,568 property crimes, excluding arson, reported nationwide in 2006.
Of the property crimes, burglary was the only offense to show an increase (1.3 percent) in volume when 2006 data were compared with the 2005 data. The estimated number of larceny-thefts decreased 2.6 percent, and the estimated number of motor vehicle thefts declined 3.5 percent.
In 2006, excluding arson, victims of property crimes collectively lost an estimated $17.6 billion: thefts of motor vehicles resulted in losses of more than $7.9 billion. Larceny-thefts resulted in losses of $5.6 billion, and burglaries, $4.0 billion.
For property crimes, 15.8 percent were cleared by arrest or exceptional means by the nation’s law enforcement agencies in 2006.
A total of 13,943 law enforcement agencies reported 69,055 arson offenses to the UCR Program in 2006.
The number of arsons reported in 2006 increased 2.1 percent when compared with the number of arsons reported in 2005.
The average dollar loss for arson offenses was $13,325 per incident.
The FBI estimated that law enforcement agencies nationwide made 14,380,370 arrests in 2006 for both violent and property crimes, excluding those for traffic offenses. Law enforcement agencies made 4,832.5 arrests for each 100,000 in population nationwide for the 29 offenses for which the UCR Program collects arrest data.
The arrest rate for property crime was 524.5 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants.
The rate of arrests for property crimes in 2006 was 102.5 arrests for burglary for each 100,000 in population, 370.0 for larceny-theft, 46.5 for motor vehicle theft, and 5.5 for arson.
Source: FBI