PROVIDENCE – Violent crimes per 100,000 people in Rhode Island declined 6.4% year over year in 2018, according to the most recent figures from the FBI in its 2018 “Crime in the United States” report.
The report also included city data for Providence and Warwick.
Violent crimes totaled 2,317 for the year in Rhode Island. New England violent crimes declined 6.1% year over year on a per-100,000-resident basis while nationally the rate declined 3.6%.
Rhode Island had 219.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2018, compared with 255.8 violent crimes per 100,000 in all of New England for the year and 380.6 per 100,000 in the United States. In the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area, which includes Bristol County, Mass., the rate was 284.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.
Providence accounted for 35.3% of all violent crimes in Rhode Island at 819, according to the report. The city accounted for 17% of the state’s population for the year. In comparison, Warwick had 73 violent crimes in 2018, or 3.2% of statewide violent crimes, while its population was 7.6% of the state population.
Murder in the Ocean State declined 23.9% year over year per 100,000 residents, while aggravated assault declined 10.5% per 100,000 year over year. There were 16 murders in 2018 in Rhode Island and 1,366 aggravated assaults. Ten of the murders for the year occurred in Providence.
New England murders declined 17.7% year over year per 100,000 residents.
Not all crime declined year over year in the Ocean State in 2018. Rape increased 5.9% year over year both in total and in a per-100,000-resident basis to a total of 481 cases, or 45.5 cases per 100,000 residents. Of those, Providence was the scene of 109 total cases.
Property crimes in the state declined 5.6% year over year per 100,000 residents to 1,660.9 crimes, higher than the New England rate of 1,440.1 per 100,000 but lower than the national rate of 2,199.5 per 100,000. Property crime incidents in the Providence metro totaled 1,533.1 cases per 100,000 in 2018.
Rhode Island burglaries declined 12.8% year over year per 100,000 residents in 2018, totaling 2,810 for the year, 931 of which occurred in Providence.
Robbery in the state declined 4.3% per 100,000 residents year over year. There were a total of 454 robberies in Rhode Island in 2018.
Vehicle theft increased 3.1% year over year per 100,000 residents. There were a total of 1,531 vehicle thefts in 2018 in Rhode Island, 36.1% of which occurred in Providence.