In a recent annual FBI crime report, Arizona was said to be declining overall in violent crime. This is true for most cites, however, Scottsdale is seeing an increase in violent and property crimes.
According to this data, Arizona’s violent crime overall has decreased from 2017 to 2018. It is also below the crime average nationally. According to the FBI, national violent crime has decreased a total of 4.3%. Violent crime is considered to be murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.
Another significant crime is property crime. According to the FBI, nationally property crime has decreased by 7.2%. Property crime is considered burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.
Unfortunately, the city of Scottsdale is experiencing an increase in these crimes. Officer Kevin Watts said, “While there was an increase in our UCR Part 1 crimes (which includes violent crimes – homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, and property crimes – burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson), it was 3.96%, or 233 incidents, more.”
In total, Scottsdale has seen an increase in rape cases. There were a total of “122 in 2018”, Officer Watts said. It seems that rape and assault specifically had the largest spike, increasing by 26% overall. Many of these cases are reported by people who have no physical indications of rape. Most victims believe they had been drugged and could have possibly been assaulted in some way.
Resident AJ Peterson was not aware these crimes were increasing however, he wasn’t surprised. He said “Lots of California residents are fleeing the insane taxes in California which means you’re bringing in more of the lower class individuals which generally means that they are exposed to more crime growing up, so they think that crime is “okay” or they just do not care.”
Scottsdale is considered a tourist destination in Arizona. Many people who come here from out of state can be easy targets for crooks. It is also known for having a large bar scene. Old Town Scottsdale is amazing for nightlife if you are safe. Drunk people can become easy targets for sex offenders in the area. This could be another reason why so many assault cases are reported.
Officer Watts said, “we do investigate cases and we exceed national and state averages for clearances in both Violent Crime and Property Crime.” However, some residents of the area do not agree. Concerning the law, Peterson said: “there are a lot of petty crimes that are treated like major crimes and major crimes that go unpunished.” He believes there needs to be more effort by police in handling these crimes.
Just because some crime is increasing in Scottdale, doesn’t mean residents should fear. “It is important to note that our crime rate (the number of Part 1 crimes per 1,000 residents) was the lowest in our department’s history in 2017 at 25.2 crimes per 1,000.”, said Watts.