FBI crime reports show decrease in violent crimes in first half of 2017
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released preliminary crime stats for January through June 2017. Overall, violent crimes including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault either decreased or only increased slightly.
The number of violent crimes decreased by .8 percent compared to the same time period in 2016.
Murders increased by 1.5 percent throughout the first six months of 2017, compared to the same period in 2016. However, this is a smaller increase than in previous years. In the first half of 2016, murders increased by 5.2 percent.
The report includes data from more than 13,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide that submitted crime data to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
January to June Percent Change for Consecutive Years 2013–2017
| Years | Violent crime | Murder | Rape1 | Robbery | Aggravated assault | Property crime | Burglary | Larceny-theft | Vehicle theft | Arson |
| 2014/2013 | -4.6 | -6.0 | -10.1 | -10.3 | -1.6 | -7.5 | -14.0 | -5.6 | -5.7 | -6.5 |
| 2015/2014 | +1.7 | +6.2 | +1.1 | +0.3 | +2.3 | -4.2 | -9.8 | -3.2 | +1.0 | -5.4 |
| 2016/2015 | +5.3 | +5.2 | +3.5 | +3.2 | +6.5 | -0.6 | -3.4 | -0.8 | +6.6 | -1.1 |
| 2017/2016 | -0.8 | +1.5 | -2.4 | -2.2 | -0.1 | -2.9 | -6.1 | -3.0 | +4.1 | -3.5 |
| 1 The figures shown in the rape column include only those reported by law enforcement agencies that used the revised Uniform Crime Reporting definition of rape. See the data declaration for further explanation. | ||||||||||
In South Bend, the number of murders and burglaries saw the largest increase from the first half of 2016 to the first half of 2017.
SOUTH BEND (via FBI UCR)
| 2016 | 2017 | |
| Violent Crime | 465 | 468 |
| Murder | 6 | 9 |
| Rape | 43 | 47 |
| Robbery | 136 | 163 |
| Aggravated Assault | 280 | 249 |
| Property crime | 2201 | 2492 |
| Burglary | 485 | 629 |
| Larceny-theft | 1517 | 1630 |
| Vehicle theft | 199 | 233 |
| Arson | 18 | 24 |