Crime in Kansas overall was down in 2019, though violent crime has continued on a multi-year upward trend according to a Friday report.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation Friday released its crime index report for the previous year. The annual document compiles reported crime statistics by state and local law enforcement agencies and calculates state crime rates and how they differ from the previous year and Kansas’ 10-year average.
Index crimes, a term including both violent and property crimes, fell 5.5 percent from 2018 and were also 5.5 percent below the Kansas 10-year average. The KBI reported 29.3 crimes per 1,000 residents in 2019. The state saw decreases in property crime as well, 6.8 percent below 2018’s figures and 8.5 percent under the 10-year average. The property crime rate was reported at 25 per 1,000 residents.
Violent crime, though, has seen steady increases annually dating back to 2015. Kansas saw a 2.6 percent increase from 2018, though violent crime reports in 2019 were 17.3 percent higher than the 10-year average. Overall, the rate is 4.3 incidents per 1,000 residents.
Multiple crime categories are above the 10-year average, but still saw decreases from 2018. Murders decreased 11 percent in ’19, reported rapes fell 3.6 percent after years of increases, robberies fell 11.1 percent, burglaries 9.5 percent. Aggravated assaults and batteries, though, drove the overall rate increase for the state. In 2019, those were up 6.1 percent in Kansas from 2018 and 23 percent higher than the 10-year average.
Riley and Pottawatomie County’s figures fell below the Kansas average in all respects. Total index crime in Riley County per 1,000 residents was reported at 21.2 incidents — about eight below the state. The county saw 17.6 reports per 1,000 residents for its property crime rate. Additionally, violent crime came in at 3.7 reports per 1,000 residents, 0.5 incidents below the state.
Pottawatomie County’s total index crime was reported at 13.6 incidents per 1,000 residents compared to Kansas’ 29.3 per 1,000. Property crime came in at 11.8 offenses per 1,000 residents compared with the 25 per 1,000 state figures. The county also saw 1.8 violent crimes per 1,000 residents compared with the state’s 4.3 per 1,000.
