FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 30, 2015
CONTACT: Sara Rabern (605) 773-3215
Crime in South Dakota 2014 Publication Released
PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Marty Jackley released today the Crime in South Dakota 2014 report. This report is compiled by the Attorney General’s Criminal Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) and is the most accurate and comprehensive compilation of South Dakota criminal statistics as it reflects the actual arrest and reporting information by South Dakota law enforcement. Criminal statistics help identify trends in criminal activity that assists in crime prevention and enforcement efforts across South Dakota.
“Our criminal statistics reflect a 1% increase demonstrating that over all, South Dakota remains a safe place to live as a result of strong community involvement, law enforcement efforts, and supportive lawmakers. The criminal trends identify reductions in the areas of drug and alcohol offenses, as well as offenses involving juvenile offenders. The trends further identify the need to further strengthen crime prevention efforts for financial crimes, and sexual offenses against children,” said Jackley.
South Dakota law enforcement agencies reported a total of 37,857 arrests involving 65,093 offenses in 2014, a 2.8% increase from 2013 (63,332). The more serious offenses included a total of 16,799 arrests and involve the following: homicide/negligent manslaughter-13, sex offenses-111, assault-4,328, larceny/theft-3,420, fraud-441, drug/narcotic-5,577, prostitution-41, kidnapping-29, robbery-63, arson-27, burglary-329, motor vehicle theft-146, counterfeiting-79, embezzlement-36, stolen property-91, destruction of property-579, pornography/obscene material-19, solicitation of a minor- 31 and weapon law violations-163. Less serious offenses totaled 21,058 arrestees, involving the following, but not limited to DUI-6,182 (6,535 for 2013), liquor law violations-3,524 and disorderly conduct-2,362.
Some examples of the South Dakota numbers included a decrease in juvenile arrests 4,888 down from 5,583 in 2013 accounting for 12.9% of the total arrests and an increase in thefts totaling more than $23 million worth of property loss reported. Addressing our juvenile offender concerns needs to involve substantial cooperative efforts from parents, educators, and law enforcement.
The sex offenses and child pornography arrest categories do not include enticement/solicitation of a minor. An additional chart for this category can be found at the end of this release.
For comparison purposes note that some statistics reflect arrest statistics and other identify incident reports.
You can obtain a copy of this year’s Crime in South Dakota report from our website at the following link:
http://dci.sd.gov/SAC/CrimeinSouthDakota.aspx
-30-
