If you feel like crime was up in Madison last year it isn't quite all in your head. The FBI have released the 2006 Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report and statistics show that across the country violent crime (murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) rose by 1.3 percent. In the Midwest violent crime is up by 2.1 percent. The West had the worst increase with 2.8 percent. The Northeast dropped by 0.1 percent. Madison has seen a rise in overall violent crime since 2005, but a drop in overall property crime (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and grand theft auto). Helping to bring down the property crime numbers are a decrease in auto theft and larceny. Not helping is a big jump in arson and burglaries. We have also compiled a list comparing 2004 to 2006 where we see backtracking of improvements in 2005 with jumps in both violent and property crimes. During the rest of the week we will be digging through the rest of the crime reports for the last ten years. Stats below:

The areas that are up from 2005 to 2006 are below:
Violent Crime Overall: 839 to 958
Murder: 2 to 4
Robbery: 329 to 436
Aggravated Assault: 428 to 456
Burglary: 1,449 to 1,631
Arson: 65 to 109 (wow!)

The areas that have seen improvements from 2005 to 2006:
Forcible Rapes: 80 to 62 (remember, rape statistics are typically unreliable due to cases going unreported)
Property Crime Overall: 7,737 to 7,583
Larceny-Theft: 5,682 to 5,459
Grand Theft Auto: 606 to 493

Here are additional crime statistics showing Madison in 2004 versus 2006.

Up from 2004 to 2006:
Violent Crime Overall: 842 to 958
Murder: 3 to 4
Robbery: 292 to 436
Aggravated Assault: 453 to 456
Property Crime Overall: 7,279 to 7,583
Burglary: 1,450 to 1,631
Larceny-Theft: 5,268 to 5,459

Down from 2004 to 2006:
Forcible Rapes: 94 to 62
Grand Theft Auto: 561 to 493