The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) has released the 2021 Kansas Crime Index Report. The report compiles crime statistics reported to the KBI by state and local law enforcement agencies throughout Kansas.
Violent crime analysis
The 2021 Kansas Crime Index Report indicated that violent crime in Kansas decreased by 3.4% from 2020, showing declines in each of the categories of violent crime. A total of 13,422 violent crimes were reported in Kansas in the categories of murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault and battery.
Violent crime in Kansas has been steadily rising each year since 2014. The decline of violent offenses in 2021, was the first decrease experienced since this uptick. Despite this decline, the number of violent crimes in 2021 remained 17.9% above the 10-year average.
Aggravated assaults and batteries continue to be a concern. While these offenses also declined by 1.9% in 2021, they remain 26% above the 10-year average, and account for a large percentage of the violent crimes reported.
Property crime analysis
In 2021, property crimes declined overall by 7.5%. Motor vehicle thefts are of the most concerning offense in the property crime category. They also declined slightly, but remained 13.6% above the 10-year average. Property crime offenses are assumed to be underreported to law enforcement.
For the full 2021 Kansas Crime Index report and previous year’s statistics: https://www.kansas.gov/kbi/stats/stats_crime.shtml.
The KBI notes that data from the Kansas Crime Index report is derived from standard offense and arrest reports submitted to the Kansas Incident Based Reporting System by local law enforcement agencies across Kansas. It is dependent on victims reporting crimes. The report is compiled to provide a historical assessment and snapshot of crime trends. It is often not possible to draw further interpretations or conclusions from the data. The KBI cautions against using data to make direct comparisons between jurisdictions. Often these comparisons are not valid as the factors influencing crime vary widely between communities.
