FBI Media Release
Special Agent in Charge Manuel E. Mora
660 Mesa Hills Drive    El Paso, TX 79912 
To: All print and broadcast media
Contact:  Special Agent Andrea Simmons, 915.832.5373

September 24, 2007

Violent crime down, motor vehicle theft up

Today the FBI published the final Uniform Crime Report (UCR) statistics for 2006. El Paso bucked the national trend with a decrease in violent crime but a significant increase in motor vehicle theft. Violent crime was down 7.7 percent in El Paso from 2005, while motor vehicle theft increased 35 percent. Robberies were up 12 percent.

The report, which is posted on www.fbi.gov, includes statistics for cities with populations of 100,000 or more. It covers the 12-month calendar year of 2006. For the second consecutive year, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation increased, and for the fourth year in a row, the estimated number of property crimes decreased. The data indicate that violent crime increased nationwide 1.9 percent in 2006 when compared with data from 2005. Nationwide, property crime decreased 1.9 percent and motor vehicle theft declined 3.5 percent for the same time period.

In El Paso, the data show violent crime (-7.7 percent), murder (-7 percent), forcible rape (-1.4 percent), aggravated assault (-13.5 percent), larceny-theft (-.5 percent) and arson (-42 percent) were all down compared to 2005. Robbery (12 percent), property crime (4.6 percent) and motor vehicle theft (35 percent) were up.

The El Paso FBI has teamed up with the El Paso Police Department and El Paso Sheriff’s Office to form two new task forces to address some of these crime problems. A Violent Crime Task Force and a Major Theft Task Force (which targets auto theft) were formed earlier this year and all agencies are working hard to reduce crime in these areas.

The UCR numbers are provided voluntarily by police and sheriff’s departments across the nation. The FBI collects and publishes this data annually.