The Sconi

FBI Crime Data Explorer statistics show violent crime on the rise in Wisconsin, with the number of such reported incidents jumping to 17,998 in 2021, up from 14,930 just two years prior.

Over that same time, researchers found violent crime incidents in the state spiraled to 15,808 reported by 324 state law enforcement agencies, up from 14,930 reported in 2019 by 187 such agencies.

All across the country, FBI statistics show violent crime is now on the rise, with 694,050 such incidents reported by 11,794 law enforcement agencies in 2021, compared to 448,783 incidents reported by 9,042 law enforcement agencies.

Fox News reports FBI data also shows the number of murders in 2021 spiked to 20,900, an increase of 4.3%. Fox adds murders are now on pace to reach 2020 levels, when homicides jumped by 30%. In addition, Macrotrends reports the nationwide crime rate in 2020 was 6.52, a 28.64% increase from the year before.

Over that same time in Wisconsin, the FBI Crime Data Explorer lists 13,358 violent crime incidents and 14,930 offenses reported by 187 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies in 2019. Two years later, the number increased to 15,808 violent crime incidents and 17,998 offenses reported by 324 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies.

Efforts by The Sconi to reach Mandela Barnes, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin for comment on what he would do to curb crime in the state were not responded to.  

Through all the mayhem, Fox argues the FBI has been unable to fully grasp the full extent of all the crime due to police not reporting the total numbers.

 "We’re seeing a disturbing violent crime surge across the country,” FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told Fox.

According to AP News, police departments across the country are struggling to keep up with rising crime.

“We’re not dissatisfied with the Police Bureau because I think they’re doing the best they can,” said George Spaulding, whose son was killed five years ago, in speaking out about the job he feels officers are doing in his home city of Portland, Oregon. “They are just overwhelmed,” he added as statistics show homicides in Portland are on pace this year to easily top the 89 that were reported in 2021.

As the violent crime has surged, AP adds more and more officers across the country have moved to retire early or quit following George Floyd’s murder and the call to reform police departments.

 “This isn’t just an issue in Philadelphia,” spokesperson Eric Gripp told AP. “Departments all over are down and recruitment has been difficult.”

With the city of New Orleans being home to the highest homicide rate in the country, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently published a piece on crime in the city featuring Ibrahim Rabee, a local resident who owns an auto shop and no longer feels safe due to rising crime.

In 2022 alone, seven people have been killed near Rabee’s shop, and when someone threatened him with a gun there it reportedly took law enforcement until the next day to respond to his 911 call for help.

According to WSJ, officers are now quitting at record numbers, lengthening 911 call response times to as much as 2.5 hours. WSJ also cites criminologists and law enforcement officers who claim the spike in violent crime is from “stress from the pandemic, police pullbacks after racial-justice protests and a proliferation of guns.”