(The Center Square) – The Shreveport Police Department has seen an overall decrease in property and violent crime over the last ten years, according to the FBI.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting database has tracked offense numbers based on what’s reported by law enforcement agencies across the country.
The accuracy of the FBI’s crime reporting has come under question. The Coalition for Law, Order and Safety says actual crime rates are likely higher than the FBI data show, according to an April 2024 report. The coalition says the FBI’s system for collecting the statistics leads to lower crime reporting levels.
In late 2014 and 2015, violent crime in Shreveport was about where it is now, according to the FBI data, averaging between 400 and 500 reports a month. In early 2016 that changed, and in May 2018, the city hit its highest mark in the decade at 695 incidents.
In 2019, the numbers started to come back down, even hitting the 200s in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had previously not been done. November 2022 saw the lowest mark at 229, and reports haven’t hit 500 in a month since.
October 2023 had zero reported cases, but the FBI says little or no data may be the result of an agency not participating, reporting no incidents, changes in reporting or being “covered by” another agency.
Property crime, on a month to month basis, was also down starting in 2019. Offenses of this nature were still averaging between 800 and 1,000 cases per month until the middle of 2020, but wasn’t seeing the spikes of 2015 through 2017. The highest such peak was January 2017 at 1,130.
Post-2019, property crime didn’t hit 1,000 reports in one month again. The average month saw 700 to 800 reports until 2021, when it dropped to 600 for two years.
However, there’s been a recent increase in 2023 with reports in the 700s and low 800s, outside of October 2023 which, like violent crime, had no reports.
Across Louisiana, reported property crimes have generally decreased since 2014, but so has the percent of population covered, meaning agencies and or areas that report to this database. Violent crime has maintained about the same monthly averages with slightly lower peaks.
Shreveport has a much higher crime rate per 100,000 residents than Louisiana as a whole. The city’s police department had 357 property crimes reported by population, compared to 219 statewide, and 202 violent crimes reported by population, compared to 138 from Louisiana.
A violent offense includes murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault and intimidation.
Property crimes are burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.
