Lower Merion Property Crimes Up: FBI 2016 Crime Report

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA – The FBI released its crime data from 2016 recently, and we have the details on crime rates in Lower Merion Township.

The information comes from the FBI’s annual report Crime in the United States. The publication is a statistical compilation of offense, arrest, and police employee data reported by law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, according to the FBI.

According to FBI data, violent crimes in Lower Merion decreased from 2015 to 2016, while property crime saw an uptick

In 2015, Lower Merion had 32 violent crimes, but 28 were reported in 2016.

Violent crimes include robbery, aggravated assault, rape, murder/non-negligent manslaughter.

Lower Merion, throughout 2016, 18 robberies and 10 aggravated assaults, according to the FBI. There were no murder or manslaughter incidents or rapes, the report shows.

Regarding property crime, the township saw an uptick of nearly 80 crimes.

Overall, the township had 1,068 property crimes in 2016. In 2015, there were 990.

These crimes include theft/larceny, burglary, arson, and motor vehicle theft.

Lower Merion saw 136 burglaries, 882 thefts/larcenies, 50 vehicle thefts, and no arson cases in 2016.

Vehicle thefts more than doubled, jumping from 23 in 2015. Thefts/larcenies went up by 51, as 2015 had only 831 incidents.

Nationally, the FBI said the 2016 statistics showed an increase in the estimated number of violent crimes, with a 4.1 percent rise when compared with 2015 data. Nationally, property crimes dropped 1.3 percent.

The 2016 statistics show the estimated rate of violent crime was 386.3 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants nationally, and the estimated rate of property crime was 2,450.7 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. The violent crime rate rose 3.4 percent compared with the 2015 rate, and the property crime rate declined 2.0 percent.

The UCR Program report for 2016 included information from 16,782 agencies across the country, out of 18,481 city, county, university and college, state, tribal, and federal agencies eligible to participate,
the FBI said.

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