The Crime In Washington 2009 Annual Report is prepared by Criminal Justice Information Support Staff: Kellie Lapczynski, Statistical Compiler Linda Schaffel, NIBRS Specialist Tonya Todd, Document Imager Joan Smith, CJIS Manager The Washington State Uniform Crime Reporting Program is a cooperative effort of: Washington Association of Washington State Criminal Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Justice Training Commission 3060 Willamette Drive NE 19010 1st Avenue South Lacey, WA 98516 Seattle, WA 98148 Phone: (360) 486-2380 Phone: (206) 835-7300 Fax: (360) 486-2381 Fax: (206) 439-3752 Website: www.waspc.org Website: www.cjtc.state.wa.us Donald G. Pierce, Michael D. Parsons, Ph. D., Executive Director Executive Director Front cover designed by Tonya Todd CRIME IN WASHINGTON STATE - 2009 SUMMARY RATE OF INDEX CRIME Index crimes in Washington State totaled 266,288 for 2009, constituting 40.0 offenses per 1,000 persons. This represents a decrease of 1.7% in the index crime rate over 2008. POPULATION **The estimated population in Washington for 2009 was 6,668,200 as compared to 6,587,600 for 2008. This represents a 1.22% increase. VIOLENT CRIME Violent crime offenses are murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Reported violent crime offenses totaled 21,920 for 2009. The violent crime rate per 1,000 persons for 2009 is 3.29, which is an increase of 0.8% compared to 2008. While simple assault can be violent, it is not generally serious in nature therefore is excluded from the categorization of violent crime for this publication. PROPERTY CRIME Property crime offenses are burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Reported property crime offenses totaled 244,368 for 2009. The property crime rate per 1,000 persons for 2009 is 36.7, which is a decrease of 1.9% compared to 2008. VALUE OF PROPERTY Property valued at $284,150,267 was reported stolen in 2009. Of this STOLEN AND RECOVERED amount, $84,948,752 or 29.9% was recovered. The value of property stolen shows a decrease of 13.6% over 2008. NUMBER OF LAW Six law enforcement officers were killed feloniously and one officer killed ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS accidently while in the line of duty. A total of 822 law enforcement officers KILLED OR ASSAULTED were assaulted during the year. Assaults on officers decreased 7.2% when compared to 2008 with 886 officer assaults reported for that year. RATE OF CRIME There was an 18.6% clearance rate for all index crimes reported in 2009. CLEARANCES The clearance rate for 2008 was 17.2%. ARRESTS A total of 244,446 arrests were reported in 2009 constituting a decrease of 2.5% over the year 2008. DRUG ABUSE ARRESTS There were 23,379 reported drug abuse arrests. Of this number, 11.8% were persons under 18 years of age. DUI ARRESTS A total of 36,831 arrests were made for DUI, which constituted 15.0% of the total arrests reported in 2009. The total represents the arrests of 36,355 adults and 476 juveniles. LAW ENFORCEMENT In 2009, there were 14,756 full-time law enforcement employees in the State EMPLOYEES of Washington. Of these, there were 10,561 commissioned officers, which is a decrease of 2.1% under 2008. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE There were 48,186 domestic violence offenses including simple assault and violation of protection/no contact orders. This was an increase of 13.4% over 2008. A total of 244 law enforcement agencies participated in this data collection. HATE/BIAS CRIME There were 211 reported hate bias crime incidents by 262 participating law enforcement agencies. This represents a decrease of 10.6% over 2008. Of the 211 incidents, there were 292 hate/bias offenses. It is important to remember that there can be more than one offense within a single incident. Of 262 reporting agencies, 207 reported that there was no hate crime activity in their jurisdiction. ** Source: Office of Financial Management, Forecasting Division Population Trends for Washington State (April 1, 2009) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CRIME IN WASHINGTON STATE 2009 was compiled from data submitted to the Washington Uniform Crime Reporting program of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs by Washington State Law Enforcement agencies during 2009. Coverage is 99.9% of the state population. This report would not be possible without the voluntary cooperation of Washington State’s law enforcement agencies. Additionally, input and guidance from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs WUCR/NIBRS Committee is gratefully acknowledged. Introduction This is the thirtieth annual report of criminal offenses, arrests, law enforcement officers killed or assaulted, and full-time law enforcement employees produced by the Washington Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Funding for the UCR Program is provided through contract with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC). Administration of the UCR Program is the responsibility of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) Criminal Justice Information Support (CJIS) Department. Washington’s UCR Program is unique in that it is sponsored, administered, and supported by an organization of contributing agency administrators rather than a bureau or department of state government. Background Although the collection of nationwide crime information dates back to the 1890's, no ongoing program was initiated until the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) established a committee on uniform crime records in 1917. The committee's responsibility to provide management information to law enforcement agencies was eventually turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1930 when the FBI received a congressional mandate to collect and disseminate national crime information. The IACP has continued to serve the UCR Program in an advisory capacity and has been joined in this responsibility by the National Sheriffs Association. Data for Crime in Washington State 2009 are compiled from monthly Summary UCR submissions by individual law enforcement agencies throughout the State of Washington. The UCR Program was activated in October 1979 and began the collection of monthly reports from contributing agencies in January 1980. Today, the UCR program offers on-line data input processing and provides various reports necessary for statistical purposes in the criminal justice system. Objectives of Washington UCR Segments of our population need more complete, accurate, and timely information for a variety of reasons. Citizens are interested in the probability of crime in their neighborhoods and criminal justice practitioners need to know what is occurring in order to deploy personnel and equipment more efficiently to support public safety. Legislators need statewide information about crime in order to pass realistic laws that will increase the stability of our society. Researchers and planners need to know what is actually happening to predict trends and recommend changes. The primary objectives of Crime in Washington State 2009 are to implement and administer a uniform system of collecting crime and arrest statistical data from contributing law enforcement agencies in the State of Washington and present the information needed by each of these groups. This information will not, in itself, prevent crime but it may encourage segments of society to understand the problem and to work together with law enforcement agencies to reduce crime. Additional objectives of Crime in Washington 1 State 2009 when compiled and evaluated are: 1. To identify the number of crimes reported by contributing agencies. 2. To identify the geographical distribution of reported offenses. 3. To determine whether or not reported crimes have increased or decreased. 4. To determine whether or not reported crimes have increased or decreased by population groups. 5. To determine the number of clearances and the clearance rate for reported offenses. 6. To determine the reported number of arrests by offense, age, sex, and race. 7. To determine the number of law enforcement officers assaulted and killed. 8. To determine the number of commissioned (sworn) and civilian law enforcement employees by gender. 9. To determine the rate per population group of commissioned (sworn) and civilian law enforcement employees. Crime Factors Factors relating to crime reporting practices, law enforcement policies, population characteristics, and interpretation all contribute to variation in reported data. Some general factors which may affect the amount of crime reported and type of crime committed are: 1. The density and size of the community population and of its surrounding area. 2. The variations in composition of the population, particularly to age. 3. The economic status, education, and recreation characteristics of the community population. 4. The stability of population with respect to residents' mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors. 5. The climate, including seasonal weather conditions, and other geographical variations. 6. The religious characteristics of the population. 7. The effective strength of law enforcement agencies. 8. The policies of other components of the criminal justice system (i.e., prosecutorial, judicial, correctional and probational). 9. The attitude of the public toward law enforcement problems. 10. The crime reporting practices of the citizenry. 11. The administrative and investigative follow-up of the local law enforcement agency, including the degree of adherence to crime reporting standards. UCR Statistical Interpretation Statistics are a tool used to summarize information so