FBI Crime Stats: Where Highland Park, Highwood Stand

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — New data show an increase in violent crime in Highland Park and Highwood from 2017 to 2018 despite a decrease in crime nationwide during the same period.

The FBI last week published the latest edition of its annual "Crime in the United States" report. It found the reported number of violent crimes in the United States fell 3.9 percent compared to 2017. The property crime rate also dropped nearly 7 percent from 2017.

But Highland Park reported a 60 percent increase in the number of violent crimes, while the number of property crimes fell by 42 percent, according to law enforcement data collected by the FBI.

The increase in the city's rate of violent crimes can be attributed to nine additional aggravated assaults in 2018 compared to the year before. In Highwood, there were four violent crimes last year compared to three in the prior year, due to a single additional robbery, and 27 percent fewer property crimes.

The nationwide drop in violent crime represents the second straight annual decrease after increases in 2015 and 2016. The FBI estimated there were 368.9 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans last year.

In Highland Park and Highwood, the violent crime rate in 2018 was 79.8 per 100,000 residents, nearly 80 percent lower than the national average. There were no murders in either city last year.

Across the country, robbery fell 12 percent from 2017, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter decreased by 6.2 percent, and aggravated assault dropped by a fraction of a percent.

Rape was the only violent crime to increase nationwide last year. There were 139,380 cases of rape reported in the U.S. in 2018, up from 135,666 in 2017. Last year, there were three rapes reported in Highland Park, one more than in the prior year, and a single rape in Highwood in each of the past two years, according to the FBI data.

The FBI also estimated there were nearly 7.2 million property crimes across the United States in 2018. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, and all five of the categories saw a decrease from 2017.

That equates to a national rate of 2,362.2 property crimes per 100,000 people, a decrease of 6.9 percent from the 2017 estimated rate. Highland Park had a below-average rate of 665.2 property crimes per 100,000 residents and Highwood reported its property crime rate was 621.8 per 100,000 residents.

Other 2018 Highland Park and Highwood crime statistics reported to the FBI:

• Robberies: 2 in Highland Park, 2 in Highwood
• Aggravated Assaults: 19 in Highland Park, 2 in Highwood
• Burglaries: 26 in Highland Park, 0 in Highwood
• Larceny/thefts: 150 in Highland Park, 33 in Highwood
• Motor vehicle thefts: 22 in Highland Park, 0 in Highwood
• Arson: 1 in Highland Park, 0 in Highwood

Notable nationwide findings:

• There were more than 1.2 million violent crimes across the country.
• Law enforcement made an estimated 10.3 million arrests in 2018 (excluding traffic violations) which is a slight decrease from 2017.
• The juvenile arrest rate fell 11 percent in 2018 over the 2017 rate.
• Victims of property crime, excluding arson, lost an estimated $16.4 billion in 2018.

The data used in the “Crime in the United States 2018” report was provided by more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies across the country.