United States Property Crime Continues to Decline

According to FBI data, United States property crime has declined for the 16th consecutive year. Estimates show that property crime declined 6.3% in 2018 when compared with 2017. One likely contributor to this trend is the increased usage of security systems in homes and businesses.

Every year, the FBI releases an annual crime report titled Crime In The United States. This report outlines statistics, including some that are of great interest to us as an alarm monitoring company. These mostly include property crimes such as burglary, larceny-theft, and arson. It should be noted that while the FBI classifies arson as a property crime, it does not provide estimates for arson data. This is largely due to the varying levels of participation in reporting arson by different agencies.

The FBI defines burglary as the unlawful entry of a structure to commit felony or theft. Larceny-theft is identified as the unlawful taking of another person's property, with the intention to deprive the rightful owner of said property. Arson is defined as any willful or malicious burning or attempting to burn, with or without the intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, personal property of another, etc.

Based on the data presented from the 2018 edition of Crime In The United States, an estimated 7,196,045 property crimes occurred in the United States in 2018. This represents a 6.3% decline when compared with the estimate from 2017. Looking further back, property crime in the United States is down 22.9% when comparing the 2018 estimate with the 2009 estimate.

The estimate for 2018 shows that property crime occurred at a rate of just under 22 property crimes for every 1,000 inhabitants. This represents a 6.9% decrease when compared with the estimate from 2017. The estimated 2018 property crime rate is down 14.6% from the 2014 estimate, and down 27.7% from the 2009 estimate.

When considering 2018 property crimes, larceny-theft represented 72.5% of these crimes. Burglaries represented 17.1%. Motor vehicle theft represented 10.4%. The FBI estimates that 2018 property crimes resulted in estimated losses of $16.4 billion. Remember that arson data is not considered in these statistics.

While it is impossible to fully pinpoint the estimated decline in property crimes to any one particular cause or reason, we like to think that the increased usage of alarm systems has at least played some factor. The FBI estimates that burglars are 2.7 times more likely to attempt to enter a home or business if they believe that no alarm system is in place. With more and more homes and businesses using security systems, many burglars are being scared-off from attempting crimes.

It has never been easier to get started with home security and alarm monitoring service. And by installing your own system, you can save yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars in startup expenses. You can always email us at support@alarmgrid.com if you need any help or direction in getting started. Remember that we are here from 9am to 8pm ET M-F. We look forward to helping you and your family stay protected!