As a convenience to our clients and the general public we have put together some relevant crime-related facts and figures for the Omaha metropolitan area.
Violent Crimes
The Omaha Police Department compiles data relating to crimes each year. The data is broadly divided into two categories – violent crimes and property crimes. Within the violent crimes umbrella, data is compiled relating to four crimes:
- Criminal homicide – Criminal homicides increased significantly from 2014 to 2015 in Omaha. In 2015 there were 50 criminal homicides, up from 32 the previous year. Statistically that reflects a 56 percent increase in the number of homicides in 2015. Of the 50 homicides, 35 were cleared, or solved, in 2015, while the previous year 23 of the total 32 were cleared. That means for 2015, 70 percent of the homicide cases were solved while 72 percent were solved in 2014. The national average is 64.5 percent, meaning Omaha does a slightly better job of clearing homicides than the national average.
- Forcible rape – Forcible rape crimes saw a slight decrease from 2014 to 2015. In 2015 there were 174 forcible rapes, down from 180 in 2014, reflecting a three percent decrease year to year. For 2015, 102 of those cases were cleared, up from 90 the previous year, indicating a 59 percent and a 51 percent clearance rate, respectively. The national average clearance rate is just 39.3 percent, meaning Omaha clears significantly more forcible rape cases than the national average.
- Robbery – Robberies were also down in Omaha in 2015. That year there were 655 robberies, down from 723 in 2014, reflecting a nine percent decrease. Of those, 311 were cleared in 2015 and 300 cleared in 2014, indicating a 47 percent and 41 percent clearance rate, respectively. The national average for cleared robberies is 29.6, also indicating Omaha’s clearance rate is above the national average.
- Aggravated assault — There were 1452 aggravated assaults in 2015, down slightly from 1523 in 2014, reflecting a five percent decrease. For 2015, 711 aggravated assault cases were cleared, significantly fewer than the 979 that were cleared in 2014, indicating clearance rates of 49 percent and 64 percent, respectively. The national average is 56.3 percent.
Property Crimes
The Omaha Police Department compiles annual statistics on three property crimes, including:
- Burglary – Burglaries decreased noticeably from 2014 to 2015. In 2015 there were 2160 burglaries reported while 2014 had 2997, indicating a decrease of 28 percent. Of those burglaries, 313 were cleared in 2015 and 335 in 2014, indicating clearance rates of 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively. The national clearance rate is 13.6, putting Omaha just below the national average for last year.
- Larceny/theft – Larceny and theft crimes were also down year to year with 11,558 larcenies/thefts being reported in 2015 and 12,910 in 2014. While larcenies/thefts decreased in 2015, the number cleared increased with 3,333 cleared in 2015 versus 3,030 cleared in 2014, indicating a 29 percent clearance rate for 2015 and a 23 percent clearance rate for 2014. Nationally, 23 percent of larcenies/thefts are cleared on average.
- Motor vehicle theft – Motor vehicle theft also saw a considerable drop from 2014 to 2015 with 2,543 motor vehicle thefts reported in 2015 and 3,146 in 2014. Although the number of motor vehicle thefts decreased year to year, the number cleared increased with 633 motor vehicle thefts cleared in 2015 and just 449 cleared in 2014. This results in a 25 percent clearance rate for 2015 versus a 14 percent clearance rate for 2014. The average national clearance rate for motor vehicle thefts is 12.8 percent.
Overall Crime Rates
Collectively, these crime statistics tell us two important things: (1) Omaha, Nebraska clears more crimes overall than the national average, and (2) the overall number of crimes reported in Omaha decreased noticeably from 2014 to 2015. Nationwide, 23.6 percent of all crimes are cleared, on average, each year. In Omaha, 29 percent of all crimes were cleared in 2015, up from 24 percent in 2014. Collectively, there were 18,592 violent and property crimes reported in Omaha, which is down from 21,511 the previous year.
Per Capita Crime Rates
Another way to measure crime is in relation to the city’s population. The city of Omaha, Nebraska has a population of about 446,000 residents. Crime rates can be measured per 100,000 residents. The homicide rate in Omaha, therefore, is 11.2 homicides per 100,000 people for the year 2015, as compared to a national average of 4.6. Omaha’s forcible rape crime rate is 39, compared to the national average of 27. The robbery crime rate is 146 compared to 113 at the national level and the aggravated assault crime rate for 2015 was 326 with a national average of 242.
The 2015 property crime rate figures for Omaha reveal a burglary crime rate of 484 per 100,000 compared to the national average of 701. The larceny/theft crime rate was 2591 in 2015 versus 1974 at the national level and the motor vehicle theft crime rate was 570 for 2015, as compared to 230 nationally.
Although Omaha’s crime rates are clearly higher than the national averages, the good news is that most crimes have shown a considerable decrease year to year from 2014 to 2015.
If you have been charged with a criminal offense in Nebraska, or you are the loved one of someone who has, contact Petersen Law Office in Omaha, Nebraska 24 hours a day at 402-513-2180 to get started on your defense.