WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FBI released the Quarterly Uniform Crime Report data Monday and it shows that violent crime is trending downward in the Gila Valley.
Thatcher dropped from three violent crimes in 2019 to two in 2022, the most recent years that data is available for the town. Pima dropped from five in 2020 to zero in 2022, and Safford went from 19 in 2020 to 13 in 2022.
Graham County Sheriff’s Office was the only local agency to see an increase, going from nine in 2020 to 19 in 2022.
Violent crime is classified as murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; and property crime, including burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. All statistics are reported by county, city and town law enforcement agencies.
Statewide, violent crime increased from a rate of 425.6 per 100,000 population in 2021, to 431.5 in 2022. Arizona’s violent crime rate is 12 percent higher than the national violent crime rate of 380.7.
The FBI reports that, nationwide, murder decreased by 26.4 percent during the first quarter of 2024, rape decreased 25.7 percent, robbery decreased 17.8 percent and aggravated assault decreased 12.5 percent from the same time last year.
