Last month the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS) released the 2022 Crime in Alaska Report and Alaska Felony Sex Offense Report. The reports indicate the overall number of crimes reported decreased by just 1.6%.
In addition to reporting that reported crimes decreased by 1.6% last year, the reports stated the number of rapes reported to state law enforcement decreased by 5.9%. Additionally, the number of property crimes reported decreased by 2.9%, which is a continuation of the decreasing trend that began in 2018.
“Alaska’s overall crime rate is down, property crime is down, and the rate of sexual assault is down significantly with Western Alaska seeing a decrease of close to 9% in felony sex crimes,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a statement. “The backlog of untested sexual assault examination kits is cleared and in the system.”
The reports provide property and violent crime statistics specific to the state, and were authored by the Alaska Department of Public Safety’s Division of Statewide Services. The Division of Statewide Services provides technical and specialized services to DPS and law enforcement agencies across Alaska.
But even though the reports showed a decrease, officials acknowledged there are still crimes that need to be addressed.
“While the 2022 crime data continues to show decreasing crime rates in many categories, we also have significant work to do addressing violent crimes such as murder and aggravated assault,” said Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell in a statement. “Your Alaska State Troopers will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to address crime across the state, so that every Alaskan feels safe in their community.”
Under state law, law enforcement agencies are required to submit this data to DPS. Thirty agencies, representing 99.3% of Alaska’s population, reported crime data to DPS in 2022. The population counts for crime reports in Alaska come from the U.S. census data.
According to the state, because federal definitions do not always match state definitions for crimes, federal crime reports cannot accurately be compared to state reports.
“Public safety has been my administration’s top priority since day one,” Dunleavy said. “We’ve made progress by giving Alaska law enforcement and prosecutors the tools they need to protect victims and bring those responsible to justice.”
