Kentucky State Police released its 2023 Crime in Kentucky report this week. Overall, KSP said in a release that crime rates are largely stable. In a year’s time, the state showed small declines in several violent crimes; however, it wasn’t across the board, and the report showed alarming increases in human trafficking, animal cruelty, and motor vehicle thefts.
The report is a summary of statistics made up of offense and arrest data sent in by law enforcement agencies across the state.
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This graph shows the rate of crimes reported in both 2022 and 2023, the increase or decrease from year to year, and how much one crime represents the total portion of all serious crimes occurring in the state. While the number of incidents remains low at 60 for the year, the rate of human trafficking had the highest increase of them all at almost 40%.
This year, Kentucky lawmakers passed a new law, House Bill 3, fining airports, truck stops, hotels, and bus stations if they don’t post mandatory human trafficking hotline awareness signs required by a prior 2020 law.
“We want to make sure that that number continues to get out there. And that was part of that original intent whenever we did in 2020 the legislation,” Rep. Suzanne Miles, HB 3’s sponsor, told a committee of lawmakers in March. The bill also directs the attorney general to form a working group of law enforcement and advocates against human trafficking.