Hawai'i leads U.S. in rate of theft
| • | Chart: Hawai'i crime increases in 2002 |
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i had the highest rate of theft in the country last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics that also showed the overall crime rate here increasing in 2002 for a third straight year.
The FBI's annual Crime in the United States report released yesterday also showed the violent crime rate last year increasing here by 3 percent.
The figures show that Hawai'i crime continues to increase since 1999 when it hit a record low since the data were collected in 1975. Hawai'i had the nation's second highest theft rate in 2001.
Auto thefts, a separate category from other thefts, also showed an increase. From 2001 to 2002, the rate of auto thefts increased by 44 percent.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle yesterday said one of the major reasons for the rise in crime is crystal methamphetamine, or ice. The drug has been linked to a number of high-profile crimes in Hawai'i and has turned up in 40 percent of men who were arrested by Honolulu police from January to September 2001, the highest percentage among 30 U.S. cities, according to a national drug monitoring program overseen by the U. S. Justice Department.
Carlisle also once again called for longer prison terms for property crime offenders.
"If you incapacitate criminals you stop crime. We've stopped thinking like that," he said. "Anything that has allowed property offenders to be given multiple chances so that their criminality escalates contributes to the current problem."
The FBI report said the number of overall crime in Hawai'i increased from 65,947 incidents in 2001 to 75,238 in 2002.
Every category of crimes showed increases except for drops in murder and non-negligent homicides and forcible rape.
The total number of violent crimes increased slightly. The spike in the numbers came from property crimes, which increased from 62,830 in 2001 to 71,976 in 2002. The data showed that Hawai'i's property crime rate is the third highest in the country, trailing Arizona and Washington, D.C.
Hawai'i's theft rate last year was 3,963.7 per 100,000 people, an 8.3 percent increase from 2001, according to the FBI report. Property crime was 5,781.7 per 100,000 last year, almost 13 percent higher than in 2001.
Auto theft increased from 549.5 per 100,000 people in 2001 to 796 in 2002, a 44 percent increase.
The state Attorney General's office, which is responsible for compiling state crime statistics, would not comment on the FBI report yesterday, pending the release of its own report later in the week.
The Attorney General's Office administers the Uniform Crime Reporting Program in Hawai'i, the source of the FBI's numbers.
Paul Perrone, chief of research for the Attorney General's Office, has said that Hawai'i's crime rate may be inflated. He said while the study accounts for crimes against residents and tourists, the crime rate is calculated using resident population only.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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