Posted on: Wednesday, October 24, 2001

Serious crime up 10 percent in Hawai'i

Associated Press

Hawai'i sees serious crime climb 10%

The number of murders in Hawai'i declined by more than 20 percent, but overall serious crimes in the state increased by nearly 10 percent last year, with motor vehicle thefts alone jumping 30 percent over 1999, according to statistics released by the FBI this week.

The total number of murders, burglaries, robberies, thefts, rapes and car thefts reported in Hawai'i in 2000 was 62,987, compared with 57,324 crimes reported in 1999, an increase of 9.9 percent, the FBI reported.

The rate of incidents per 100,000 people increased 7.5 percent, the report said.

Property and theft crimes in Hawai'i all rose last year, with the highest increase for motor vehicle thefts — 6,114 crimes were reported in 2000, compared with 4,660 in 1999, an increase of 31.2 percent. The rate adjusted per 100,000 people was 28.4 percent.

Burglaries numbered 10,665 in 2000, up 13.2 percent over 1999. The burglary rate per 100,000 people was 880.3 — 10.8 percent higher than in 1999. There were 60,033 property crimes reported in 2000, a 7.7 percent increase to 4,955.1 per 100,000 people. Robbery, aggravated assault and theft also increased last year.

Thirty-five murders were reported in Hawai'i last year, a rate of 2.9 percent per 100,000 people, down 22.2 percent from the year before.

The number of rapes reported in 2000 was 346, a 2.3 percent decline from 1999. Most of the crimes reported — 46,659 incidents — occurred on O'ahu.