Alaska’s general crime rate rises while rapes drop

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - New state data shows Alaska’s overall violent crime rate continues to fall, following national trends across the country that have trended downward since the coronavirus pandemic spike.

The number of criminal offenses reported in Alaska has increased and the state’s reported crime rate also increased, according to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program summary for 2023.

The data in the report comes from across the state and offers a glimpse of life in Alaska over a year-by-year period.

One notable change is a decrease in rapes, with data showing the lowest number of rape offenses reported since 2014.

The number of total criminal offenses reported increased 1.4% from 2022 to 2023, according to the report. Reports of robbery, larceny theft and motor vehicle theft offenses increased while violent crime — such as murder, rape or aggravated assault — dropped 4.9% from 2022.

“The 2023 crime data continues to show decreasing violent crime rates in many crime categories, including a substantial decrease in the number of sexual assaults known to law enforcement,” Commissioner Jim Cockrell said in an email. “Your Alaska State Troopers will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners and prosecutors to address crime across the state, so that every Alaskan feels safe in their community.”

One criticism of the report is that the data only represents crimes people report to police, which means some types of crime are under-reported.

But the information is valuable because it shows trends.

“Data plays an important role in understanding crime trends; however, the public’s perception of crime is significantly influenced by the quality of service and the level of engagement provided by the police department. APD works hard to engage with the community in all we do,” Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said in an email.

The Anchorage Police Department crime data from 2022 and 2023 reveal a 34.31% drop in homicide rates, a 17.67% drop in the rape rate, and 18.96% decrease in burglary rates.

Property crimes reported increased 4.0% from 2022. Arson reports decreased by double digits, and there were fewer burglary offenses reported in the last year. Motor vehicle theft and larceny theft reports both increased.

Some big takeaways from 2023:

Alaska’s overall reported crime rate rose 1.2%, which is primarily due to the increased number of reported offenses of larceny theft and motor vehicle theft.

Alaska’s reported violent crime rate decreased 5.0% to its lowest level since 2015 with decreases in the reported crimes of murder, rape, and aggravated assault.

Alaska’s reported property crime rate increased 3.9%. Increases in larceny theft and motor vehicle theft are reported as the primary reasons for the overall property crime rate increase.

Fifty-six murders were reported, representing 1% of the violent crimes and 0.3% of the total crime index offenses. The number of murders decreased 20% and the rate of murders per 100,000 persons decreased 20.1% between 2022 and 2023.

Of the identified suspects, 7.3% were juveniles, 83.6% were adults, and 9.1% were unknown. Of the victims, 7.1% were juveniles (changed from 14.3% in 2022), while only 10.9% of the suspects were female and 25% of the victims were female. Friend was the most frequently reported relationship between the suspect and the victim.

Since 2014, November has averaged the highest number of reported homicides at 6.6 per month, but in 2023, March and July had the highest number of reported murders with eight.

The Alaska State Troopers, Anchorage Police Department, and Juneau Police Department all reported homicides in July.

When it came to relationships between the murder suspects and their victims, the most common for men who were homicide victims were strangers.

For women who were homicide victims, the most common relationship between victim to offender was “intimate partner” which includes “wife” and “girlfriend.”

Eight hundred and eighty-five rapes were reported in 2023 with 65 attempted rapes were reported and are included in this total. This represented 16.5% of all violent crime, and 4.6% of all crime reported in Alaska.

The number of reported rapes decreased 15.6%, and the rate of rape per 100,000 persons dropped 15.7% from 2022 to 2023. While 11 of the contributing agencies had an increase in the number of offenses reported, 14 agencies had a decrease in the number of offenses reported to their agencies from 2022 to 2023.

The 14 agencies combined to reflect an 18.7% decrease in rape offenses reported to them in 2023.

Since 2014, July has averaged the highest number of reported rape offenses at 97.2 per month, but in 2023, the highest number of reported rapes occurred in April with 94 reported offenses.

When looking at robbery rates, an increase of 3.0% was seen from 2022 to 2023.

Five hundred and seventy-two robberies were reported in 2023 with attempted robberies included in this total. Robbery represents 10.6% of all violent crime, and 3.0% of all crime reported in Alaska.

The number of reported robberies increased 3.1%, and the rate of robberies per 100,000 persons increased 3.0% from 2022 to 2023.

Of the reported robberies, the majority (53.8%) involved the use of “Strong-Arm” (hands, fists, feet, etc.) as a weapon. Arrest data shows 76.7% of the persons arrested for robbery were male, and 93.9% were adults. The total property loss associated with robbery offenses reported in 2023 was $677,470, up from $649,523 in 2022.

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