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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: An FBI report shows an overall drop in the number of violent and property crimes reported for the first six months of 2019 when compared to the same time period in 2018.

The Preliminary Semiannual Report is based on data from more than 14,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies that voluntarily submitted the information to the FBI.

Unit Chief Amy Blasher says in the violent crime category…

Amy Blasher: We saw a 3.1 decline in all four of the offenses in the violent crime category which includes murder, nonnegligent homicide, rape, and robbery.

Halpern: Property crime fell 5.6 percent.

Arson offenses—which are collected separately from other property crimes—decreased 12.5 percent.

Blasher: These statistics do not provide insight into the numerous variables that shape crime in a given jurisdiction. Because of this, the FBI cautions against comparing one city to another.

Halpern: Crime statistics for the year 2019 will be in released in September of this year.

This is the last Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, because in the future, the FBI will release crime statistics more frequently.

Blasher: Starting in June, the FBI will be releasing this type of data four times a year instead of twice a year, allowing the opportunity for a more timely release of data.  

Read the Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report on fbi.gov.

With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.