Crime Data in Seattle

The Seattle Police Department has been keeping crime statistics as a way of establishing trends of crime in the region. Crime data assist the police officers in determining the type of offenses that are likely to be carried out in Seattle. The data also helps determine whether the approaches the police officers apply in fighting crime are effective. The data is updated annually as seen in the table below; it helps establish the rates and proportions of crime. 

Seattle Crime Data 

Table 1 

All data retrieved from http://www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/crime-dashboard 

Trends Associated with Total Crime 

The table above illustrates the crime trends in Seattle from 2009 to 2018. The overall results show that Part I offenses crimes have decreased significantly over the years. It is an indication that the Seattle police department has been working to reduce the number of crimes in the city. Part I offenses show varying trends. Homicide, for example, has not decreased significantly. In 2018, there were more homicides carried more than any other year. It shows that despite the police efforts, the crimes continued to increase. However, that created concern, making the police officers implement better methods of fighting homicide, which explains the decrease from 29 homicides in 2018 to 6 homicides in 2018 (Seattle, 2019). Rape crimes have been almost stagnant as seen in the ten years. There is no time when the number of crimes was too high, causing concern. However, there is a significant reduction in 2018, showing that the Seattle Police Department has been working on reducing the offense. 

Robbery crime has decreased steadily from 2009 to 2018 with most robberies being carried out in 2009. There was a then a decrease noted from 2010 to 2012 and then an increase from 2013 to 2018. A significant decrease in robbery from 1604 in 2018 to 371 in 2018 is seen. It is an indication that the Seattle police department has been working more to reduce robbery crimes. On the aggravated assault crimes, there was a significant increase noted from 2009 to 2017, but a decrease is seen in the last two years. The trends of burglary crimes vary as seen with increase and decrease over the ten years. Similar trends are seen with the motor-vehicle crimes, where they are at times high and at times low (Seattle .gov, 2019). The larceny-theft and arson have also varied within the years but reduced in 2018. The trends, however, indicate that in 2018, the Seattle Police Department was able to reduce all Part I offenses significantly. 

Compare Rates 

The rates of crime show the crimes which are committed more and which years when more crimes were carried out. Larceny-theft crimes are the most committed in Seattle. The crime rates of larceny-theft are higher than other Part I offenses. In 2014, the highest offenses were carried out, with 28,133. In comparison to 2018, the police officers have worked to reduce the crimes as the number dropped to 5691. The next crime with the highest rate is burglar, with the highest number of crimes being 7647 in 2017. Homicide has the lowest crime rates, with numbers never going over 30 homicides in one year. The low rates show the work of the police officers on ensuring that the numbers remain significantly low. Therefore, crime rates from the highest to the lowest are larceny-theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, robbery, aggravated assault, arson, rape, and homicide. 

Crime rates varied within the ten years. The highest crimes were carried out in 2014, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2009, 2010, 2018, 2012, 2011, and 2017. The year which the number of crimes was high is an indication that the strategies implemented by the police officers were not sufficient enough to fight crime (Seattle .gov, 2019). Improvement, however, can be seen in 2018, where all the Part I offenses were reduced significantly. The crimes which have high rates, such as larceny are simple crimes, and they are carried out by any individuals as they concern simple theft, pickpocketing, property or cash theft. 

Proportion of Crime 

Proposition describes the percentage of the crime of Part I offenses. Larceny-theft has the largest crime proportion, with 40 %. It is an indication of the seriousness of the crime in Seattle. The crimes have been high at times and low, but the change is not large. Larceny-theft offenses are easy to be carried out which explains the large numbers. Burglary crimes occupy 17.3 % of the total crimes rate. Burglary offenses are common, as seen through illegal breaking and entering, where force is not used as all the time. Motor-vehicle theft takes up a proportion of 14.2 % of the crime rates (Seattle, 2019). These crimes are relatively high, due to car-jacking or cars being stolen when they are packed. The rates are high as they are associated with theft, where the offenders take steal cars so that they can use them for carrying the stolen merchandise. 

Aggravated assault proportion is 13.2 %. These are the crimes associated with inflicting injury to people, for example, domestic violence or attacking other people physically. The crimes are mostly related to people like police officers who use force against the citizens during arrests or when dispersing a crowd (Seattle .gov, 2019). The proportion of robbery 6.6 % and the low rates can be explained by the weapons used since most cases involve using force for the offenses to be done. Most offenders who are stealing things prefer to avoid using force when taking other people’s belongings. The other offenses have fewer propositions, with arson 4 %, rape 3.6 %, and homicide 1.2 %. 

Conclusion 

The trends, rates, and proportion of crime show the number of offenses that have been committed in Seattle. The crimes are varied on years, with some such as 2014 having the highest number of crimes. The reduction of crime from 2009 to 2018 indicates the efforts by law enforcement to reduce crimes in Seattle. However, not all the methods have been successful, as seen with some offenses having higher rates in some years and reducing in others. The trends will be a guide to the Seattle police department on the efforts needed to reduce crime levels. 

References 

Seattle. (2019, April 3). Crime Data | City of Seattle Open Data portal. Retrieved April 30, 2019, from https://data.seattle.gov/Public-Safety/Crime-Data/4fs7-3vj5a 

Seattle .gov. (2019). Crime Dashboard. Retrieved April 30, 2019, from http://www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/crime-dashboard