Attorney General Mark Barnett Releases South Dakota Crime Statistics
(Pierre) – Attorney General Mark Barnett has released the 2000 crime statistics for South Dakota. The State ranked 50th out of 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Overall, there was a decrease in the total number of index crimes reported last year. The index crimes are comprised of: Murder/Non-negligent Homicide, Forcible Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Larceny and Motor Vehicle Theft. The index crimes are used as a benchmark from year to year to reflect any changes in the total number of crimes reported.
Violent crimes increased slightly, by about one-half of a percent. Murders decreased from 17 last year to 9 this year. Property Crimes that were reported saw a decrease of over 4%.
The agencies that reported index crimes increased this past year, with 4% more of the state’s population now being covered. The agencies that report crime numbers to the Statistical Analysis Center, covers about 82% of the state’s total population.
The South Dakota crime numbers are collected through two systems, National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR). The data is merged and forwarded to the FBI. This past year, the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office became the first agency in the nation to submit NIBRS data electronically, via e-mail to the FBI. The data is submitted on a monthly basis. In 2000, South Dakota became one of 21 states certified by the FBI as NIBRS compliant. The certification process took over 18 months to complete.
You can obtain a copy of this year’s Crime in South Dakota report from our website at http://www.criminalwatch.com/stats/sd.asp
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