To no one’s real surprise, burglaries are rising in the U.S.
Sadly, before COVID hit in 2020 they were dropping. And from 2020 to 2021 they fell 19% more. The reason for the big 19% drop has to do with the number of people sitting at home.
It’s pretty impossible to successfully burgle someone’s home when someone is sitting in their living room.
But the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRFS) says burglaries are rising and rising more than is actually being reported. The NIBRFS is the FBI’s crime data base system. It says a lot of states don’t report their numbers to the FBI.
That makes it difficult to accurately determine crime statistics.
Here’s an example. Insurify — the insurance quote company — took a look at NIBRFS statistics and found that just 6% of Florida’s law enforcement agencies and departments reported burglaries to the FBI for all of 2021.
So the FBI has the total number of burglaries in the state at 22 for all of that year. That’s a ridiculously low number. In the meantime, Insurify found the Florida Department of justice reported 44,207 burglaries in 2021.
That makes Florida the worst state in the country for burglary. Other states where law enforcement doesn’t report such crimes to the FBI are Pennsylvania — 14% — and New York — 24%.
That underreporting is troubling.
As for states that report all the numbers, two PIA Western Alliance states — New Mexico and Washington — are ranking in the top-5 in the country for the most burglaries per 100,000 people. New Mexico ranks first and Washington is fourth.
Here are the details:
1. New Mexico
Burglaries reported in 2021: 7.617
Burglary rate per 100,000 population: 649
Number of burglaries reported to law enforcement: 68%
2. Oklahoma
Burglaries reported in 2021: 23,555
Burglary rate per 100,000 population: 613
Number of burglaries reported to law enforcement: 99%
3. Arkansas
Burglaries reported in 2021: 14,462
Burglary rate per 100,000 population: 523
Number of burglaries reported to law enforcement: 94%
4. Washington
Burglaries reported in 2021: 40,994
Burglary rate per 100,000 population: 522
Number of burglaries reported to law enforcement: 92%
5. Louisiana
Burglaries reported in 2021: 15,931
Burglary rate per 100,000 population: 510
Number of burglaries reported to law enforcement: 57%
These are the states with the lowest numbers:
New Hampshire
- 103 burglaries per 100,000 residents with 97% of law enforcement reporting
Virginia
- 134 burglaries per 100,000 residents with 98% of law enforcement reporting
New Jersey
- 146 burglaries per 100,000 residents (84% of law enforcement reporting)
Maine
- 149 burglaries per 100,000 residents (99% of law enforcement reporting)
Massachusetts
- 150 burglaries per 100,000 residents (92% of law enforcement reporting)
Source link: PropertyCasualty360.com — https://bit.ly/48ydgDp
