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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: FBI statistics show an overall decline in the number of reported violent crimes for the first half of 2017 when compared to the same time period in 2016.

The FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report reveals decreases in the number of rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults.

Deputy Assistant Director Rainer Drolshagen…

Rainer Drolshagen: However, the fourth offense within the violent crime category—murder and non-negligent manslaughter—actually increased 1.5 percent when you compare data to the first six months in 2016.

Halpern: FBI crime data is often used to rank cities, but Drolshagen discourages people and organizations from doing that.

Drolshagen: There are so many factors with respect to this that you would not get a true representation of which cities are the most violent.

Halpern: The FBI compiles the data, which is voluntarily provided from the nation’s law enforcement agencies.

So far, more than 13,000 agencies have submitted data, so there is a chance that…

Drolshagen: The figures may change at the end of the year when we get more agencies reporting their violent crime data.

Halpern: The report also shows an overall decline in the number of property crimes such as burglary and larceny-thefts for the first six months of 2017. Motor vehicle thefts, however, increased 4.1 percent.

Learn more at www.fbi.gov. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.