Abilene's Violent Crime Increases
By: Austin Kellerman
Updated: January 13, 2009
A new FBI report revealed crime may be on the rise in Abilene. The report, which details preliminary statistics from 2008, shows a crime spike in many major categories:
- Violent Crime jumped to 344 cases in 2008 compared to 270 cases in 2007 (27% increase)
- Murder increased to 5 cases in 2008 compared to 3 cases in 2007 (66% increase)
- Forcible rape rose to 44 cases in 2008 compared to 32 cases in 2007 (37% increase)
- Robbery increased to 92 cases in 2008 compared to 83 cases in 2007 (10% increase)
- Aggravated assaults increase to 203 cases in 2008 compared to 152 cases in 2007 (33% increase)
- Arsons jumped to 22 cases in 2008 compared to 18 cases in 2007 (22% increase)
- Property crimes fell to 2,149 cases in 2008 from 2,532 cases in 2007 (15% decrease)
- Burglaries fell by nearly 100 cases; 659 in 2007 to 571 in 2008 (14% decrease)
- Larceny Thefts dropped to 1,469 cases in 2008 from 1,721 cases in 2007 (14% decrease)
- Vehicle Thefts fell to 109 in 2008 from 152 in 2007 (28% decrease)
Preliminary FBI crime data show an overall dip in crime across the country during the first half of 2008, compared with the same period in 2007, although some areas see increases in violent crime.
Violent crime fell 3.5 percent, with some categories of crime seeing significant overall dips as well. Murder declined 4.4 percent, assaults decreased 4.1 percent, rape dropped 3.3 percent and robberies fell 2.2 percent, compared with the same period in 2007.
Related Links:






