MEDFORD, Ore.– Violent crimes such as murder, robbery and aggravated assault were showing a rise in both Oregon and California according to 2017 data recently released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Collected through the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program – a program that uses data from local, state, federal and tribal agencies – lists of statistics outline states and their counties criminal numbers throughout 2017.
One statistic highlighted how property crimes like burglary had increased in Oregon but decreased in California.
Taking a look at counties in southern Oregon and Northern California, here are some other statistics:
In Jackson County there were 176 reported violent crimes and more than 1,500 property crimes. In Josephine County, there were 28 violent crimes and 390 property crimes.
Meanwhile, in Siskiyou County there were 54 violent crimes and 241 property crimes.
However, according to Medford Police, 2018’s data is already shaping up to be better.
“Actually this year, they’re pretty significant,” said Lt. Mike Budreau. “Thirteen percent decrease is something we all should be happy about cause those are significant reductions in assault, theft and drug offenses.”
In a Facebook post on the department’s Facebook page, data showed that from January to July of this year overall crime was down 13.9 percent compared to same time back in 2017. Other significant portions of the data showed theft was down by 20.8 percent with 604 less cases than the year before and assault was also down by 8.7 percent.
However, there were some increases including an uptick in DUII’s by 12.8 percent and a 52 percent increase in sex offenders that failed to register.
According to Medford Police, they have 104 sworn officers in the department which is about average when compared to other cities of it’s size and while statistics can be helpful, police say they don’t always tell the whole story as these numbers are based solely on reported crimes.
Still, Medford Police want to remind people to stay vigilant and keep an eye out.
If you’d like to take a look at the rest of the FBI’s UCR data you can click on the link here.
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