New FBI Crime Statistics Shows Drop in Cary Crime As Population Increases
Cary, NC – The most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report data shows crime in Cary has dropped, both in terms of total crimes committed and per capita.
In the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2018, Cary had a total of 1,666 reported property crimes. Most of these were larceny-theft, with 1,357 total counts according to the bureau’s data.
This is down from the 2017 Uniform Crime Report, with 1,795 reported property crimes, 1,438 of which were larceny-theft. Not only is this a total drop in property crime but as Cary’s population has increased by several thousand people since then, it’s also a per capita drop. Currently, Cary’s property crime rate is 9.77 per 1,000 people. By comparison, Apex’s property crime rate is 12.6 per 1,000 people (the report does not currently have data for Morrisville and Raleigh).
All forms of property crime are down between the two years, including car theft and arson, and there were no reported murders in 2017 or 2018. The only form of crime that rose in Cary because Uniform Crime Reports was aggravated assault, from 63 reports in 2017 to 68 reports in 2018.
Since 2016, the Uniform Crime Report has not included rape for individual municipalities so there is no data available on those reports in Cary.
Across North Carolina, reported property crime dropped between 2017 and 2018, now at 2,494 reports per 100,000 people, a 3.5 percent decrease. Specifically, burglary and larceny-theft are both down significantly –5.6 and 3.8 percent per 100,000 people respectively– while car theft rose by 8.2 percent per 100,000 people.
At the same time, violent crime rose in North Carolina during that past year. There were 377.6 reported violent crimes per 100,000 people, but robberies dropped by 15.7 percent per 100,000 people. Most of the increase in violent crime can be attributed to an increase in rape, with a 34 percent increase per 100,000 people. However, because of the change in reporting rape in the report, these are estimates and many states in the report saw very large fluctuations.
The FBI Uniform Crime Report data is available online.
Story by staff reports. Photos by Hal Goodtree.
