Seattle Higher than New York, L.A. for Burglaries, Break-Ins, Arson?
Originally, word was making the rounds that Seattle had the highest Crimes Against Property rates in America. That's since been amended, but the city still outranks New York, Los Angeles, Vegas, and other cities.
The subject was especially volatile as Seattle is facing a mayoral election. With Ed Murray choosing not to run while he's facing multiple sexual assault and pedophile accusations, the contenders for his position are jockeying against each other. They're using this new study to attack current city officials and each other.
According to the Seattle Times, the new study from the FBI does show Seattle has higher Crimes Against Property than New York and L.A. In fact, New York has the lowest CAP level of any of the biggest 50 cities in America. Seattle ranks 6th.
Crimes Against Property include: arson, burglary, vandalism, auto theft, and general break-ins without loss of valuables. Experts do point out FBI and other sources of crime data can only list crimes that have actually been reported to authorities--a police report.
The Times points out in their article that while neither Spokane or Tacoma are considered major cities, they both had higher CAP rates than Seattle...Spokane's was the highest.