Americans, you may look at the shoplifters, open-air drug markets, and shuttered shops in cities across the nation and think that crime is on the rise, but, according to NBC News, you’d be “wrong.”
Yes, you can all rest easy because NBC News has looked at new data from one of the least trusted agencies in the federal government — the FBI — and it “contradicts a widespread national perception that law-breaking and violence are on the rise,” Ken Dilanian, the outlet’s justice and intelligence correspondent, writes.
The problem, the article argues, isn’t progressive policies or opportunistic thugs, it’s the “news media stories and viral videos.”
“I think we’ve been conditioned, and we have no way of countering the idea” that crime is on the rise, said criminologist Jeff Asher.
Dilanian assures us that Asher “analyzed the FBI numbers.”
“It’s just an overwhelming number of news media stories and viral videos — I have to believe that social media is playing a role,” the criminologist said.
The 77% of Americans who, according to a recent Gallup poll, think crime is surging, are simply “mistaken.”
Citing Asher, Dilanian reports: “The FBI data, which compares crime rates in the third quarter of 2023 to the same period last year, found that violent crime dropped 8%, while property crime fell 6.3% to what would be its lowest level since 1961… Murder plummeted in the United States in 2023 at one of the fastest rates of decline ever recorded, Asher found, and every category of major crime except auto theft declined.”
FBI agent is latest armed carjacking victim in crime-ridden D.C.
An FBI special agent was reportedly carjacked at gunpoint in Washington, D.C. this Wednesday afternoon, prompting laughter from conservatives.
“According to D.C. Police, officers were called to the 100 block of… pic.twitter.com/vYeGSobXV3
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) November 30, 2023
“Yet 92% of Republicans, 78% of independents and 58% of Democrats believe crime is rising, the Gallup survey shows,” Dilanian states.
Violent crime, according to Asher and the FBI’s annual report, released in October, fell back to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
“Detroit is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1966, Asher found, while Baltimore and St Louis are on track to post the fewest murders in each city in nearly a decade,” Dilanian writes.
“A few cities, including Memphis and Washington DC, are still seeing increases in their murder rates,” he admits, “but they are outliers.”
Sure, San Francisco businesses are closing up shop and fleeing California in droves and retailers are seeing their shelves emptied by bands of brazen shoplifters, but “the data doesn’t necessarily support” the notion that retail crime is skyrocketing in some American cities, Dilanian reports.
CA Sheriff blasts major big box retailer for handcuffing deputies on shoplifting busts
A California sheriff became a social media star after he lowered the boom on a major national retailer that reached out for help with shoplifters and then restricted how deputies could do… pic.twitter.com/R282TlPWFL
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) November 13, 2023
Of course, “FBI data doesn’t have a separate category for retail theft,” the journalist states. ” It falls under ‘larceny,’ which declined overall last year, according to the latest numbers.”
As BizPac Review reported, the FBI “data” contradicts a September survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Loss Prevention Research Council that revealed retailers “lost more than $112 billion to crime in 2022, a roughly 19% increase in losses from 2021.”
Here’s how Costco is winning the $80B war against retail theft https://t.co/WYIuj8Oi7B pic.twitter.com/tsWLAF5Inu
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) October 2, 2023
On X, folks seem more inclined to believe their eyes than they do the FBI.
“Nobody believes the FBI anymore,” one user told NBC News.
“You are actually worse than CNN,” said another. “I cant believe Im even saying that but its true [sic].”
“The Feds say crime is not worsening, grocery prices are fine, and the shots are totally safe,” wrote a third. “So just go back to sleep.”
Nobody believes the FBI anymore.
— Ted Blake ✝️ (@Tedblake1968Ted) December 17, 2023
You are actually worse than CNN. I cant believe Im even saying that but its true.
— Alex (@Rabidcow1) December 16, 2023
The Feds say crime is not worsening, grocery prices are fine, and the shots are totally safe. So just go back to sleep.
— UnBaffle.me (@unbaffle_me) December 16, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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