Evidence Shows More Crimes Are Going Unsolved. This Police Chief Explained Why.

America remains divided on a number of important issues, but one thing we can all pretty much agree on is that serious crimes should be solved and the perpetrators punished appropriately.

But data released over the past several years shows that a lower percentage of crimes across a number of categories are ever actually solved.

A look at the stats

The best way to gauge what crimes are being committed and how many of them are eventually cleared is found within the Uniform Crime Reporting Program report compiled by the FBI.

As analyst Jeff Asher explained, this report “is sort of the best source of crime data that’s released each year” and “provides a trove of information on what’s happening nationally.”

In a nutshell, the latest statistics aren’t all that encouraging:

• The clearance rate for murder dropped from 60% in 2019 to 52% last year.
• Among all violent crimes, the rate fell from 46% to 36.7% during the same period.
• Property crimes were down to just 12% solved in 2022 compared to 17% in 2019.
• All crime categories except for burglary decreased over the three-year span.

So what’s going on? Let’s see what one expert has to say about the troubling trend.

A police chief’s perspective

Asher pointed to the fact that the number of police officers on the job started declining in 2020, in part due to the pandemic and in part as a result of anti-police backlash in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

But Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia offered some additional context.

“There’s a lot more on officers’ plates, quite frankly,” he said, adding that they often feel “overworked,” unsupported, and unfairly compensated.

The answer, he concluded, is “strong leadership” from local governments as well as “great community trust and great community understanding.”

Chris Agee December 26th, 2023

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