New FBI crime stats
The FBI just released its preliminary crime statistics for 2007, showing slight drops in both property crimes and violent crimes. Overall, violent crime fell 1.4 percent, while property crimes dropped 2.1 percent.
Here in Oklahoma, the preliminary statistics cover only cities of 100,000 or more. But you can check out the numbers of reported crimes for Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman. The FBI cautions against relying on strict comparisons between cities, for reasons spelled out here.
The FBI will release final crime statistics for 2007 in September. In the meantime, check out the FBI’s preliminary UCR Web site.
–Paul
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Comments
Sharon, you can go to the Oklahoma Dept. of Corrections Web site here:
http://docapp8.doc.state.ok.us/pls/sors
It’s also linked from our home Your Right to Know page here:
http://www.newsok.com/righttoknow
You’ll find it if you keep scrolling down in the “Data” section on the left-hand side.
Paul
Paul,
It’s very refreshing to see someone in the news not jumping to strict comparisons and including a warranted disclaimer when nationwide statistics on a particular topic are released (e.g. the FBI crime stats). From a statistical point of view, what categories or mathematical combinations of data would, in your opinion, lead to a comparison between cities that minimizes the influence of exogenous factors not considered in the raw statistics themselves? As an example, violent crime per capita is one such measure that tries to eliminate a population based bias from the comparison, but there is host more that in some cases cannot be quantified (e.g. crime reporting practices of the citizenry). Assuming some factors span a geographic area or state more than just a city and can be considered ‘constant’, what are some important factors to consider when we DO directly compare cities like Norman, Tulsa, and Oklahoma City that are most correlated and account for the majority of differences in crime in these cities?
Thanks,
Don
Do you know how I can find out if a sex offender lives in my neighborhood?
Thanks