CRIME IN SOUTH DAKOTA 2003 

PIERRE, S.D. – Attorney General Larry Long released today the Crime in South Dakota 2003 report, indicating that the total crime index for South Dakota has gone virtually unchanged since last year. 

“We are delighted that the crime rate has changed only slightly since last year and I think we can contribute some of that change to the increase in reporting agencies. The Criminal Statistical Analysis Center received crime statistics from 137 law enforcement agencies compared to 98 in 2002,” said Long. “The percent of population covered is now at 95%, which is the best this volunteer program has seen since its inception.” Index crimes, including murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson totaled 16,168 in 2003. Index crimes are broken down into two categories, property crimes and violent crimes. Property crimes made up 91.89% of the total crime index and violent crimes account for 8.11% of the total crime index. 

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