LITTLE ROCK, Ark – Statistics released by the Little Rock Police Department Tuesday show the city, while seeing an overall drop in violent crimes, is seeing jumps in killings and robbery at the mid-year mark.
The overall number of violent crimes in the city is down 2% for 2022 for the January 1 to July 4 period compared to 2021. That drop is due to significant reductions in forcible rape and aggravated assault cases.
In the other two violent crime categories, all homicide offenses and robberies, the numbers show significant increases of 34% and 52% respectively.
| January 1 to July 4 | 2021 | 2022 | Percent change |
| All homicide offenses | 32 | 43 | +34% |
| Forcible Rape | 112 | 98 | -13% |
| Robbery | 148 | 225 | +52% |
| Aggravated assault | 1,648 | 1,535 | -7% |
| Total | 1940 | 1901 | -2% |
While violent crime stats show an overall decrease in the one-year timeframe, when compared to an average of the past five years violent crime categories show a 13% increase.
Homicide offenses show a significant jump when comparing 2022 to the five-year average, up 65%. To put that in real numbers, the five-year average would have Little Rock seeing 26 homicides by this point in the year, but the city has already recorded 43 killings in 2022.
Homicide offenses averaged 26 at the July 4 mid-year mark over the past five years. The 2022 count of 43 puts 2022 at a 65% increase. Robbery, at 225, is 22% above the five-year average of 184.4 offenses.
| January 1 to July 4 | 2022 | Last 5 years average | Percent change |
| All homicide offenses | 43 | 26 | +65% |
| Forcible Rape | 98 | 97.6 | 0% |
| Robbery | 225 | 184.4 | +22% |
| Aggravated assault | 1,648 | 1,379 | +11% |
Notable here is the crime of forcible rape, showing a decrease between 2021 and 2022, is the only violent crime category which roughly on par with its five-year average.
Property crime, per the same stats, is up 8% from last year’s mid-year mark. Burglary has seen the highest increase with a 14% jump from 2021 to 2022 at the mid-year, while larceny is up 7% and vehicle theft was up 6%.
| January 1 to July 4 | 2021 | 2022 | Percent change |
| Burglary | 871 | 997 | +14% |
| Larceny/theft | 3652 | 3,910 | +7% |
| Motor vehicle theft | 512 | 543 | +6% |
| Total | 5035 | 5450 | +8% |
The change is less dramatic in property crimes over the five-year mark, although burglary and motor vehicle theft both see a slight increase, with larceny/theft seeing the greatest change by dropping 10% for the period.
| January 1 to July 4 | 2022 | Last 5 years average | Percent change |
| Burglary | 997 | 939.2 | +6% |
| Larceny/theft | 3,910 | 4,356.8 | -10% |
| Motor vehicle theft | 543 | 524.4 | +4% |
| Total | 5,450 | 5,820.4 | -6% |
When the number of both violent and non-violent crime, the overall crime rate is up 5% in Little Rock for the first half of 2022 compared to 2021 but down 2% compared to the five-year average.
| January 1 to July 4 | 2022 | 2021 | Percent change | Last 5 years average | Percent change |
| Total | 7,351 | 6,975 | +5% | 7,507.4 | -2% |
Of the three police divisions in Little Rock, the 12th Street, Northwest and Southwest, the distribution is relatively evenly distributed of all crimes at 33%, 35% and 32% respectively overall.
Where this skews significantly is breaking down into individual crimes, where the Northwest district is seeing a 75% increase in homicide rate and a 71.43% increase in robbery.
The remaining big-number change in a district is the Southwest seeing an 85.45% increase in robbery crime. Interestingly, that same district saw a zero percent change in other violent crimes of homicide and rape.
