How Safe Is Idaho Falls?
In spite of a few high-profile incidents, violent crime in Idaho Falls continues to fall after peaking in 2007-2008. In fact, as violent crime continues to drop nation-wide for cities our size (down 5.3% from last year), Idaho Falls violent crime is dropping even faster (down 10.3% from last year).
So how do we stack up against other cities of our size across the nation? Pretty good. The FBI measures crime in two main categories: Violent Crime and Property Crime. Violent Crime consist of murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assaults. Property Crime consist of burglary, theft, and auto theft. Of course there are other crimes, but the FBI uses these key crimes as benchmarks. Keep in mind these numbers don't measure all crimes, but only those reported to the police.
Crime Rate Compared
The preliminary FBI numbers on crime rates compared to other cities of our size show Idaho Falls Violent Crime 17% less and Property Crime 10% less.
Crime Trend
During the past few years, we've had a strong downward trend.
When the final numbers are in for 2010, I’ll fill you in on the specifics. If you want to do the research yourself, take a look at the FBI’s site at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr. If you’d like to look at other cities in Idaho, go to the Idaho State Police website at http://www.isp.idaho.gov/identification/ucr/crimeinidaho2010.html