Phoenix murder and violent crime rates break records in 2022
The Phoenix Police Department released a report Wednesday comparing violent crime in 2023 to 2022, but last year the city saw one of its deadliest and most violent years in recent history.
The report broke down violent crime and property crime across the city, while touting a drop in individual crime numbers.
According to data from the FBI and Census Bureau, in 2022, the violent crime rate topped at 822.24 per 100,000 people — the highest rate in 23 years.
The 2022 homicide rate reached 13.56 per 100,000 people. The last time Phoenix reached a similar rate was during the Great Recession in 2008.
The department's comparison between the first six months of 2023 to the same time in 2022 showed a 2% decrease in the number of violent crimes and a 13% decrease in the number of murders.
But during the past five years, the number of violent crimes had risen by 8% and the number of murders by 29%, according to a crime reduction plan the department released in June.
By the end of June, there were 98 murders in Phoenix. By the same time last year, the number stood at 113. But the number of 2022 murders topped at 223 — the highest in 16 years.
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The report also explained that robberies had been down by 12%, while rapes increased by 10%. Both rates of robberies and rape had been tracking down since 2017.
According to police, property crime numbers were down 19% between the first six months of 2022 and the same period this year. That included theft, burglaries and arson, which have also been declining since 2017. The property crime rate in early 2022 was at its lowest since at least 1995, as far back as FBI records were readily available.
In the report, Interim Chief Michael Sullivan was cautiously optimistic.
"I think we've got a good momentum going but there's a lot more to do," he was quoted in the report.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix's violent crime rate in 2022 highest in 23 years
