Good, Bad and the Ugly
Good News:
The violent crime index for Idaho Falls has dropped 19.6%. Actually, this is incredibly good news and follows a four-year trend. This number consists of four types of crime tracked by the FBI: Murder, Rape, Robbery, and Aggravated Assault. Property crime (Burglary & Theft) is down a modest ½%.
Bad News:
On the flip side, Rapes and Simple Assaults are up.
Confusing News:
Our patrol officers are doing an outstanding job of proactively finding and arresting drug offenders. These aren’t offenses reported to the police, but reflect the police ferreting out drug cases on their own. I’m impressed, but this accounts for most of the 4.1% increase in over-all crime reported in the Idaho State Crime Report. The rest of the increase is mostly reflected by a jump in simple assaults which are not factored in the national crime numbers tracked by the FBI.
Here are the actual numbers so you can check my math. You can also see them on the Idaho State Police website. When the FBI's national numbers come in, I’ll show you how we compare with other cities our size.
