Crime in Highland, Utah, and the US 2009-2018

Below you will find charts and graphs that show what type of specific types crimes were committed in Highland and Alpine over a 10-year period of time (2009-2018) and how we ranked within the state and nation over that time period. All data came from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting system.

I used a report published in 2010 entitled “The Cost of Crime to Society: New Crime-Specific Estimates for Policy and Program Evaluation” to attach a value to the specific types of crime reported by the FBI. This creates a total cost of crime to a community. At the end of this post are tables from the report that show the costs of  different type of crimes and what these costs were based on.

For the comparison charts I looked only at cities with a population greater than 10,000 (there are about 3,400 in the FBI report). Based on violent crimes our national ranking ranged from 21st to 340th; for property crimes our range was 143rd to 470th. Our 10-year trend is down for both violent and property crimes. our population (Highland + Alpine) grew 21% from 2009 to 2018 based on US Census estimates while our violent and property crime rates dropped by 46% and 60% respectively.

Although we are significantly lower than the national crime rate in all categories there are a couple of items of concern. For Highland the 10-year trends are all down except for two types of crime. Sadly, one of the two is rape, which is also increasing on a state and national level. The other crime on the rise is vehicle theft.

Tangible / Intangible Cost of Crimes

Components of Tangible Costs

Components of Intangible Costs

Thanks to all who help make Highland a wonderful and safe place to live. This includes our residents, schools and teachers, city staff and public safety officers, plus the local businesses who provide us with valued services.

Links:

Cost of Crime

• The Cost of Crime to Society: New Crime-Specific Estimates for Policy and Program Evaluation (see tables 1 & 5), Kathryn E. McCollister, Michael T. French, and Hai Fang, Jan 2010
• Costs of Crime: Experts Report Challenges Estimating Costs and Suggest Improvements to Better Inform Policy Decisions, US Government Accountability Office Report, Sept 2017

Crime Data

• 2008-2017 Highland, Utah & US Crime Summary Spreadsheet
• 2008 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2009 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2010 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2011 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2012 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2013 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2014 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2015 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2016 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• 2017 FBI National Crime Spreadsheet
• FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program – main page

Other

• Highland/Alpine Population Data
• Highland/Alpine Safest Cities in Utah