(The Center Square) – The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs is sounding the alarm about new statistics from the FBI concerning crime data.
When comparing Washington state to the national average, murders are 408% higher, vehicle thefts higher by 144%, and burglaries, robberies, and aggravated assaults are all higher since 2019, according to WASPC.
“Very concerning is that the murder rate in Washington was more than five times the national average,” WASPC Director Steven Strachan said during a Thursday interview with The Center Square. “In other words, our rate of homicides in Washington is far exceeding national trends.”
Vehicle thefts are among other alarming statistics in the report .
“The vehicle theft rate from 2022 to 2023 for Washington state is more than twice the rate nationally, so you’re more than twice as likely to have your car stolen in Washington, than in the country overall,” Strachan explained.
According to WASPC’s “Crime in Washington 2023” report ,vehicle theft rates have increased 110.2% since 2019 in Washington, while rising 44.9% nationally. That equates to 673.7 vehicles stolen for every 100,000 people in Washington state.