Major Theft and Violent Crime: Crimes Rates Are Down

According to Preliminary 2011 Report

Preliminary figures released today indicate that the number of violent crimes and property crimes reported by law enforcement across the nation during 2011 decreased when compared to 2010 figures.

Specifically, according to our Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, January-December 2011, violent crimes fell 4.0 percent, and property crimes dropped 0.8 percent. Arson—also a property crime even though its data is considered separately because of various levels of participation by reporting agencies—was down 5.0 percent overall.

Highlights from the preliminary report include:

■In the violent crime offenses category, murder was down overall 1.9 percent from 2010 figures, while forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault all fell 4.0 percent.

■There was, however, an increase in murder in the Midwest (0.6 percent) and an 18.3 percent jump in murder in cities with populations of less than 10,000.

■In the property crimes category, motor vehicle theft saw the largest decline (3.3 percent) from 2010 figures, followed by larceny-theft (0.9 percent).

■The only overall rise in property crimes was in the burglary category, which was up .03 percent overall, with increases of 3.2 percent in the Northeast, 1.3 percent in the Midwest, and 0.7 percent in the West.

This preliminary report includes four data tables. The first two tables show the percent change in offenses known to law enforcement for 2011 compared with those for 2010 by population group and region of the country, respectively. The third table reflects the percent change in offenses reported nationwide for consecutive years back to 2007. The fourth table presents the actual number of offenses known to law enforcement for agencies who provided 12 months of complete data and who serve a resident population of 100,000 or more.

All of the final figures will be published this fall in Crime in the United States 2011.

Submitting Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data to the FBI is a collective effort on the part of city, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies to present a nationwide view of crime. Participating agencies voluntarily provide reports on crimes known to them, using uniform offense definitions. For the most part, agencies submit monthly crime reports to a centralized repository in their state. The state UCR program then forwards the data to the FBI’s national UCR program, where staff members first review the information for accuracy and reasonableness and then enter it into the national UCR database.

The information is then publicly disseminated through various reports, including Crime in the United States, Hate Crime Statistics, and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, as well as through preliminary data reports and special reports on particular topics.

As always, the FBI cautions against drawing conclusions by making direct comparisons between cities or individual agencies—valid assessments are only possible with careful study and analysis of the unique conditions that affect each law enforcement jurisdiction.

FBI Counterintelligence National Strategy

Read the best FBI Counterintelligence book written by an experienced FBI veteran!

A Blueprint for Protecting U.S. Secrets

Espionage may seem like a throwback to earlier days of world wars and cold wars, but the threat is real and as serious as ever.

We see it—and work hard to counter it—all the time. It’s not just the more traditional spies passing U.S. secrets to foreign governments, either to fatten their own wallets or to advance their ideological agendas. It’s also students and scientists and plenty of others stealing the valuable trade secrets of American universities and businesses—the ingenuity that drives our economy—and providing them to other countries. It’s nefarious actors sending controlled technologies overseas that help build bombs and weapons of mass destruction designed to hurt and kill Americans and others.

In late October, in fact, we took part in a multi-agency and multi-national operation that led to the indictment of five citizens of Singapore and four of their companies for illegally exporting thousands of radio frequency modules from the U.S. Allegedly, at least 16 of these modules were later found in unexploded improvised explosive devices in Iraq.

As the lead agency for exposing, preventing, and investigating intelligence activities on U.S. soil, the FBI continues to work to combat these threats using our full suite of investigative and intelligence capabilities. We’ve mapped out our blueprint in what we call our Counterintelligence National Strategy, which is regularly updated to focus resources on the most serious current and emerging threats.

The strategy itself is classified, but we can tell you what its overall goals are:

■Keep weapons of mass destruction, advanced conventional weapons, and related technology from falling into the wrong hands—using intelligence to drive our investigative efforts to keep threats from becoming reality. Our new Counterproliferation Center will play a major role here.

■Protect the secrets of the U.S. intelligence community—again, using intelligence to focus our investigative efforts and collaborating with our government partners to reduce the risk of espionage and insider threats.
■Protect the nation’s critical assets—like our advanced technologies and sensitive information in the defense, intelligence, economic, financial, public health, and science and technology sectors. We work to identify the source and significance of the threats against these assets, and to help their “owners” to minimize vulnerabilities.
■Counter the activities of foreign spies—whether they are representatives of foreign intelligence agencies or governments or are acting on their behalf, they all want the same thing: to steal U.S. secrets. Through proactive investigations, we identify who they are and stop what they’re doing.

One important aspect of our counterintelligence strategy involves strategic partnerships. And on that front, we focus on three specific areas:

■The sharing of expertise and resources of the FBI, the U.S. intelligence community, other U.S. government agencies, and global partners to combat foreign intelligence activities;

■Coordination of U.S. intelligence community efforts to combat insider threats among its own ranks; and
■Partnerships with businesses and colleges and universities to strengthen information sharing and counterintelligence awareness.

Focus on cyber activities. Another key element of our counterintelligence strategy, according to FBI Counterintelligence Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi, is its emphasis on detecting and deterring foreign-sponsored cyber intelligence threats to government and private sector information systems. “Sometimes,” he said, “the bad guys don’t have to physically be in the U.S. to steal targeted information…sometimes they can be halfway around the world, sitting at a keyboard.”

The FBI Counterintelligence National Strategy supports both the President’s National Security Strategy and the National Counterintelligence Strategy of the United States.

FBI Releases Preliminary Semiannual Crime Statistics for 2010

According to the FBI's Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report released today, the nation experienced a 6.2 percent decrease in the number of violent crimes and a 2.8 percent decline in the number of property crimes from January to June 2010, when compared with data from the same time period in the prior year. The report is based on information from more than 12,000 law enforcement agencies that submitted three to six comparable months of data to the FBI during the first six months of both 2009 and 2010.

Violent Crime

■From January to June 2010, all four of the offense types in the violent crime category declined nationwide when compared with data for the same time period in 2009. Robbery fell 10.7 percent, murder was down 7.1 percent, forcible rape declined 6.2 percent, and aggravated assault decreased 3.9 percent.

■Violent crime declined in all city groups, with the largest decrease, 8.3 percent, in cities with populations of 500,000 to 999,999 persons. Violent crime was also down in both nonmetropolitan and metropolitan counties, with declines of 7.6 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.

■For the six-month comparison period, violent crime fell in all four regions of the nation: 7.8 percent in the South, 7.2 percent in both the Midwest and the West, and 0.2 percent in the Northeast. The Northeast was the only region to experience an increase in murders, 5.7 percent. Murder declined in the other three regions—12.0 percent in the South, 7.1 percent in the West, and 6.3 percent in the Midwest.

Property Crime

■Property crime was down 2.8 percent nationwide for the first six months of 2010 compared with data for the same months of 2009. Motor vehicle theft dropped 9.7 percent, larceny-theft fell 2.3 percent, and burglary decreased 1.4 percent.

■Property crime declined in all four regions, with a 3.6 percent decrease in the South, a 3.1 percent decrease in the West, a 2.5 decrease in the Midwest, and a 0.2 percent decrease in the Northeast.

■Cities with 500,000 to 999,999 inhabitants experienced a 4.8 percent drop in property crime. In nonmetropolitan counties, property crime increased 1.0 percent, but it decreased 2.4 percent in metropolitan counties.

Arson

Arson offenses, which are tracked separately from other property crimes, decreased 14.6 percent nationwide. By population group, the largest decline in the number of arson offenses (17.2 percent) was in cities with populations of 50,000 to 99,999 residents. Arson also fell in metropolitan counties by 21.6 percent and in nonmetropolitan counties by 19.4 percent. Law enforcement agencies in all four regions reported fewer arsons, including declines of 17.6 percent in the West, 14.3 percent in the South, 12.6 percent in the Midwest, and 10.2 percent in the Northeast.

Note: Caution against Ranking—When the FBI publishes crime data in its Uniform Crime Reports throughout the year, some entities use the figures to compile rankings of cities and counties. These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, tribal area, or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Valid assessments are possible only with careful study and analysis of the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction. The data user is, therefore, cautioned against comparing statistical data of individual reporting units from cities, metropolitan areas, states, or colleges or universities solely on the basis of their population coverage or student enrollment.

The complete Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January to June 2010, is available exclusively at http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/crimestats.

Law Enforcement Intelligence Operations

On November 7, 2008, Conversations with Cops at the Watering Hole will feature a conversation with Captain Franks S. Root, Arizona Department of Public Safety (ret.) on law enforcement intelligence operations.

Program Date: November 7, 2008
Program Time: 2100 hours, Pacific
Topic: Law Enforcement Intelligence Operations
Listen Live: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2008/11/08/Law-Enforcement-Intelligence-Operations

About the Guest
Frank S. Root has more than 35 years in law enforcement and intelligence operations with special emphasis on complex intelligence investigations organization and case management. During his law enforcement career he worked for the Arizona Department of Public Safety (20 years, retired as Captain); San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Office (Automation and Crime Analysis Unit); and, State of California, Division of Investigation (conducting criminal investigations involving identity theft, insurance, and consumer fraud)

Frank S. Root is the author of Law Enforcement Intelligence Critical Elements which “is described as a publication designed to demonstrate how to identify, develop, and deliver the various intelligence-related products and services required to effectively support law enforcement intelligence and operational managers at each management level within an agency.”

About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.

About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in law enforcement, public policy, law enforcement technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in law enforcement.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2008/11/08/Law-Enforcement-Intelligence-Operations

Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Criminal Intelligence Analysis Course

The Anderson Police Department, SC, is hosting an intensive 5-day Criminal Intelligence Analysis Course for intelligence officers and crime and intelligence analysts from August 18th to August 22nd 2008. The course will be presented by the Alpha Group Center for Crime and Intelligence Analysis and taught by Warren Sweeney, a thirty-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and former Intelligence Analysis Coordinator for the RCMP Canadian Police College in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)

This will be a "hands-on" course that takes a "learn-by-doing," practical approach to training. Students will actually perform tasks associated with intelligence analysis work. Each participant will also receive a copy of The Intelligence Analyst's Sourcebook. Written by Warren Sweeney, this manual explains how to conduct, prepare, and present intelligence to enhance the investigative and decision-making process.

Participants will be taught how to turn data into information; how to distinguish differences between Tactical, Strategic, and Operational Intelligence; how to overcome resistance to the intelligence process, how to establish links between people, organizations, and events; how to chart events, commodity flow, and activities within the criminal organization; how to present intelligence effectively in oral and written reports; how to use the power of the computer to assist the intelligence function; and money laundering secrets and techniques.

Tuition for the course is $525 and includes the week of instruction, the text, and related course materials. The course also fulfills the requirements of the California Department of Justice Certified Crime and Intelligence Analysis Program and may be used for Certification purposes. It is beneficial, but not required, to bring a laptop computer with you, which will permit the installation of a graphics program: ABC SnapGraphics 1.0.

To obtain a course brochure or to register for the course, please contact Katie Brown, Anderson County Sheriff's Office, 305 Camson Rd, Anderson SC 29625. You may also register by phone by calling Ms Brown at (864) 222-6601, or by faxing your registration form to her at (864) 260-4354. email contact is kgbrown@andersonsheriff.com. or Diana Olson of the Alpha Group at (909) 484-2169 or contact by e-mail at: crimecrush@aol.com.

Additional information about the content of the course can also be found on the Alpha Group website at www.alphagroupcenter.com