Facts vs. Perception: Nationally and in Spokane, violent crime is down

SPOKANE, Wash. - A major topic of conversation heading into the general election: crime rates.

Many candidates and groups will talk a lot about crime rates, and most of them claiming they're up.

But that's not entirely true. Across the U.S., major cities are seeing a 6% decrease in violent crime compared to last year as the 'COVID-era' crime-wave subsides.

Locally, Spokane's preliminary citywide crime report, also known as a Compstat report, showed violent crime is down over 6% and property crime is down over 16% so far this year.

According to the crime report, 'violent' crime includes: criminal homicide, rape, robbery, and assault.

Property crime includes burglary, vehicle theft and arson. Although the overall property crime rate is down, the specific crime of arson is actually up. SPD said between January 1 and August 10 of this year, 75 arsons have been reported. This time last year, that number was 57.

Even though some crime rates are lower, some people in Spokane said they haven't seen a difference in the amount of crime downtown and they are especially concerned about the amount of drug use they see.

"It saddens me that is seems so prevalent in Spokane," said James Owen.

Owen lives in Spokane and works downtown and said he's surprised to hear that property crime is going down.

"I've had my vehicle vandalized, I have no idea the source of that because I wasn't there to see it... but it didn't surprise me given the congregation of people that seem to be abusing drugs in the parking lot where I park," said Owen.

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