FBI Crime Stats Released: Key Findings For Falls Church

FALLS CHURCH, VA — The FBI recently published its final analysis of "Crime in the United States, 2018," showing violent crimes fell 3.9 percent in the United States from 2017 to 2018 and property crimes dropped nearly 7 percent. Falls Church followed the national trend with a decline in property crime. Violent crime slightly increased, although overall numbers remain low.

The report, though, is a snapshot of only one year, and thus not an accurate indicator of larger sustained trends.

In Falls Church, violent crime increased from 10 to 12. That includes no murders and nonnegligent manslaughters, the same as the previous year. Falls Church had 176 property crimes total in 2018, down from 213 the year before.

Here are other notable findings for Falls Church:

• Population: 14,884
• Robbery: 3 (up from 2)
• Aggravated Assault: 8 (up from 4)
• Burglary: 15 (up from 10)
• Larceny-theft: 148 (down from 194)
• Motor vehicle theft: 13 (up from 9)

The FBI estimated there were 368.9 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans last year. The nationwide drop in violent crime represents the second straight annual decrease after increases in 2015 and 2016. Overall, 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 in 2018 from 2017. The FBI began to collect rape statistics under a revised definition in 2013, and the agency decided to stop the reporting of rape data using the old definition in 2017. But to remain consistent with past reports, the 2018 update includes figures based on the former definition.

The new definition expands the meaning of rape to include additional forms of penetration of a victim’s body.

Some 139,380 cases of rape were reported under the revised definition in 2018, up from 135,666 in 2017. By comparison, some 101,151 cases of rape were reported under the legacy definition, up from 99,708 in 2017.

In 2018, the FBI estimated there were 2,362.2 property crimes per 100,000 Americans nationwide, a decrease of 6.9 percent from the 2017 estimated rate. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, and all five of the categories saw a decrease from 2017.

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.