Virginia’s official and only comprehensive report on local and statewide crime figures for 2014 is now available online at the Virginia State Police website at www.vsp.virginia.gov, under “Forms & Publications.”
The detailed document, titled Crime in Virginia, provides precise rates and occurrences of crimes committed in towns, cities and counties across the Commonwealth. The report breaks down criminal offenses by the reporting agency as well as arrests by jurisdiction.
The following 2014 crime figures within Virginia are presented in the report:
- Virginia experienced an increase in violent crime (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) of 1.0 percent compared to 2013; this is in contrast to a 1.6 percent decrease comparing the same violent offenses between 2013 with 2012; The FBI figures for the most recent reporting period of time are not yet available.
- Property crime such as burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft continued to decrease for the previous year (5.8 percent); a 3.9 percent decrease occurred between 2013 and 2012. The FBI figures for the most recent reporting period of time are not yet available.
- The homicide rate per 100,000 population experienced a slight increase (4.05) compared to the previous year (3.84). Based on the ages reported, victims tended to be older than offenders; 21.4 percent of homicide victims were 50 years of age or older, while just 10.2 percent of offenders were in the same age group of 50 and older.
- Motor vehicle thefts and attempted thefts decreased 9.3 percent compared to the previous year. Of the 7,696 motor vehicles stolen, 4,249 or 55 percent were recovered. Trucks and automobiles stolen had the highest percent recovered (66.2%, 63.4%, respectively), while recreational and “other” motor vehicles (motorcycles, mopeds, snowmobiles, etc.) had the lowest percent recovered (34.2%, 33.3%). Four out-of-ten (41.6%) of all motor vehicle offenses were reported stolen from the location of residence or home. The value of all motor vehicles stolen and attempts to steal was $61,492,619, while the value recovered was $34,980,122 (56.9%).
- Drug and narcotic offenses showed a slight decrease compared to the previous year (2.5 percent). Increases can be noted for 2013 (3.8 percent) as well as 2012 (9.4%) and 2011 (7.1%).
- Fraud offenses increased by 12.5 percent when compared to 2013.
- Robbery decreased 5.3 percent. Of the 4,313 robberies and attempted robberies, one-third (33.5%) took place between 8 pm. and midnight. The days of the week showed little variability in terms of the number of robberies that took place.
- Of the weapons reported for violent crimes, firearms were the most frequently used in homicides (69.2%) and robberies (54.5%) followed by aggravated assaults (28.7%).
- There were 128 hate crimes reported in 2014. Two-thirds (66.4%) were racially or ethnically motivated. Bias toward sexual orientation was next highest with 17.2 percent while bias toward religion comprised 14.1 percent. The remaining 2.3 percent reported was attributed to a bias against a victim’s physical or mental disability. The offense of assault was associated with over half (52.3%) of all reported bias motivated crimes while destruction/damage/vandalism of property was associated with 36.7 percent of all reported bias motivated crimes.
The report employs an Incident Based Reporting (IBR) method for calculating offenses, thus allowing for greater accuracy. IBR divides crimes into two categories: Group A for serious offenses including violent crimes (murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault), property crimes and drug offenses, and Group B for what are considered less serious offenses such as trespassing, disorderly conduct, bad checks and liquor law violations where an arrest has occurred.
For Group A offenses, between 2013 and 2014, adult arrests in Virginia decreased 4.3 percent. Juvenile arrests for Group A offenses decreased 6.5 percent statewide during the same period of time. For Group B arrests, there was a decrease of 7.2 percent for adults, and a decrease of 8.6 percent for juveniles between 2013 and 2014. For both Group A and Group B offenses, there were a total of 325,504 arrests in 2013 compared to 305,648 arrests in 2014, representing a decrease of 6.1 percent.
Per state mandate, the Department of Virginia State Police serves as the primary collector of crime data from participating Virginia state and local police departments and sheriffs’ offices. The data are collected by the Virginia State Police Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division via a secured internet system. This information is then compiled into Crime in Virginia, an annual report for use by law enforcement, elected officials, media and the general public. These data become the official crime statistics for the Commonwealth and are sent to the FBI who modifies and incorporates them in their annual report, Crime in the United States.
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