Las Vegas Crime Dipping In 2017, Report Says

LAS VEGAS, NV - The crime rate in Las Vegas is trending downward in 2017, according to a report released on Friday.

The Brennan Center for Justice, a New York University School of Law think tank, released a report analyzing crime in America's 30 biggest cities as of Dec. 19, 2017. The data shows that overall crime in those cities has declined by 2.7 percent from 2016. The report shows that violent crime is down 1.1 percent and the murder rate in those cities down 5.6 percent.

In Las Vegas, the report indicates a declining rate in all three areas. The data shows a 4.6 decline in crime (3,495 per 100,000 residents, compared to 3,663 in 2016), a 3.5 percent decline in violent crime (746 per 100,000, down from 774 in 2016), and an 18 percent decline in total murders (130 as of Dec. 16 2017, compared to 158 in 2016). The crime rate decreased in Las Vegas for the first time since 2014, while the murder rate declined for the first time since 2012, when it was at a 22-year low. Information for the study was provided by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, according to the report.

The 58 homicides as a result of the Oct. 1 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival were not counted in the data.

"Police departments often code acts of terror differently than homicides. Because Vegas MPD did not include these deaths in its murder total, this report does not do so either," the report states.

The report also didn't include rape cases, as the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting has changed, causing "inaccuracies when data is compared."

Of the major cities, Chicago experienced by far the most murders with 675. Still, that represents a significant 12 percent decline from the 765 in 2016. An 11 percent increase in the murder rate gave Baltimore the second highest total of 353. In Charlotte, the murder rate rose by 58 percent, from 67 to 106, the highest percentage of the cities surveyed in the study.

Image via Patch

Tables via Brennan Center for Justice, projections based on a preliminary analysis made in September 2017