Kennewick Crime Statistics Significantly Down in 2015

A sign that not only are local law enforcement tactics working, Kennewick police say a vigilant public who pays attention are helping greatly.

The Kennewick Police Department released their 2015 crime statistics, and especially with what are considered major violent crimes, we saw significant drops.

From 2014-2015, Kennewick saw the following reductions in major crimes:

• Homicide: 5, to 3
• Rape: 32, to 20
• Robbery 41, to 24
• Aggravated Assault: 108 to 87
• Burglary: 456 to 351.

Auto thefts also dropped from 155 to 118. Police credit the burglary and auto theft drops in part to citizens who take simple precautions, such as locking doors and windows, not leaving vehicles running unattended, and security systems.

Despite what you may hear about crime statistics, police say in most cases, burglars and thieves who encounter any kind of resistance or obstacles to their goal will quickly move on to another target-large for fear of getting caught.

Kennewick's overall ten-year trend also shows a significant drop in crime rate per 1,000 people. The city has grown from just over 62,000 in 2006 to over 78,000 in 2015, but crimes per every thousand people have dropped from around 48 to 30.

The one catagory that did see it's number double by over 50% was arson, rising from 13 in 2014 to 29 in 2015.