Crime Data

Providing statistics that accurately reflect the types and prevalence of crimes in our city is important for both the police department and the public we serve.

As a police department, we use this information to focus our enforcement, prevention, and education efforts. The number and types of crime also guide our management and manpower decisions.

As a member of the public, you use the information to make important decisions affecting your life – where to buy a house, go to school, raise a family, or start a business, for example.

The chart linked below -- Greensboro: Indexed Property and Violent Crime: Per 100,000 -- (1976-2012) -- provides a multi-year look at crimes against persons and property crimes throughout our city. To provide you with a more detailed, personalized look at what’s happening in your neighborhood, we are in the process of implementing a new crime mapping software. Until then, if you need crime data for a specific area, you can go to our P2C website.

The chart linked below also tracks changes in population. It’s important to consider changes in population when evaluating crime data because raw numbers need to be placed in perspective with the number of people affected by the crimes. To provide a consistent perspective on the extent of crime, offenses are commonly measured in rates per thousand. The chart shows crime rates per thousand of people. The blue-colored tables underneath the linked chart list the number of instances of each type of crime.

Crime data can change from year to year. As an example, at the end of 2011 we reported 81 rapes. As some of these investigations progressed, some reports were deemed unfounded or reclassified to another type of crime such as assault. So, when crime data is released in one year, the number of specific incidents for that year may eventually change.

Many factors can influence crime. Among them:

• Population density and degree of urbanization
• Variations in composition of the population, particularly youth concentration
• Stability of the population with respect to residents’ mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors
• Economic conditions, including median income, poverty level, and job availability
• Modes of transportation and highway systems
• Cultural factors and educational, recreational, and religious characteristics
• Family conditions with respect to divorce and family cohesiveness
• Climate
• Effective strength of law enforcement agencies
• Residents' attitudes toward crime
• Crime reporting practices of the citizenry

These factors confirm what we have known for many years: the police department alone cannot prevent or solve crimes. Everyone plays a part in keeping our city safe. We encourage you to do those simple things to prevent victimization – lock your doors, keep valuables out of plain sight, know your neighbors, reports suspicious behavior and crimes.

Together, we can partner to make Greensboro safer.

Greensboro: Indexed Property and Violent Crime: Per 100,000 (1976-2012)