FBI: Violent crime ticked up in Hawaii last year, while number of property crimes declined

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The number of violent crimes statewide last year ticked up, but the violent crime rate in Hawaii still remains well below the nation, according to newly-released figures from the FBI.

In 2017, there were nearly 251 violent crimes per 100,000 people in Hawaii, from 242 the year before.

Nationally, the rate was 394 violent crimes per 100,000 people, the FBI said.

Meanwhile, property crime in Hawaii dropped about 4.6 percent in 2017, but was still significantly higher than the rate nationally.

Last year, there were 40,392 property crimes statewide. That translates to more than 2,900 property crimes per 100,000 people. Nationally, the figure was 2,360 property crimes per 100,000 people.

Leading the property crimes in Hawaii: Larceny theft. Those were 29,574 of those cases last year statewide, down from a 10-year high of 42,010 in 2015.

Want to dig into the crime numbers? Head to the FBI's new Crime Data Explorer.

The FBI statistics also included figures on Oahu, where property crimes and violent crimes both declined in 2017.

One significant note of concern, however: There were 32 murders and non-negligent manslaughter cases islandwide last year. That's up from 16 the year before.

In the same year, the number of rapes and robberies dropped.

The FBI figures show there were 285 rapes on Oahu in 2017. (Because the FBI changed how it collects rape statistics in 2017, the figure can't be compared to previous years.)

Meanwhile, there were 908 robberies (from 827 in 2016) and 1,215 aggravated assaulted, from 1,159 the year before.

Over the course of 2017, there were 27,477 property crimes reported on Oahu, or 2,774 per 100,000 people. That's down from 30,192 property crimes islandwide the year before.

The FBI figures showed that the number of burglaries, larcenies and car thefts all dropped in 2017. There were 3,606 car thefts in 2017, down from 4,191 the year before. Meanwhile, 3,724 burglaries were reported in 2016. That figure dropped by about 400 in 2017.

Nationally, crime also dropped in 2017.

The FBI said property crimes declined about 3 percent nationally, while violent crime dropped .9 percent.

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