Late last week, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) released its annual report on crime titled the 2024 Uniform Crime Report.
The crime report is a compilation of crime data submitted by local law enforcement agencies across the state. It helps us better understand the true extent of crime and whether certain types of crime are becoming more or less troublesome. Let’s use today’s blog to take a closer look at the state of crime in Minnesota in 2024 and see how it compared to previous years.
2024 Crime Report
Here’s a look at some of the notable findings from the 2024 crime report:
- Overall, violent crime remained steady across Minnesota. In the seven-county Twin Cities Metro area, violent crime increased by 1% in 2024, while violent crime fell 3% in the greater Minnesota area.Violent crime includes crimes like murder, rape, aggravated assaults, robbery, etc.
- There were 170 murders in Minnesota in 2024, down from 181 in 2023. Firearms were involved in 74.7% of murders in 2024, up from 69.6% in 2023.
- There were 2,159 reported rapes in 2024, a 5.2% increase from 2023 when there were 2,053 reported rapes.
- The number of reported aggravated assaults declined in 2024, to 9,826 from 9,986 in 2023.
- The number of motor vehicle thefts decreased 19.3% in 2024, from 15,612 in 2023 to 12,596 last year. Despite this drop, the number of reported carjackings increased 5.5% in 2024.
- There were 70,898 incidents of larceny in 2024, the lowest mark in 56 years.
- Law enforcement use-of-force incidents jumped significantly. There were 27 use-of-force cases that led to the discharge of a firearm by police in 2024, up from 17 in 2023.
- A large portion of crime occurred within the seven county Metro area. All types of violent crimes (murders, rapes, aggravated assaults and robberies) were all higher in the metro area than the entire greater Minnesota region.
It’s nice to see that some of these crime issues are trending in the right direction, but it’s clear that we still have a long ways to if we want to see continued and lasting declines. Police do a good job focusing on certain crimes based on the findings in this report, so hopefully they continue to find ways to protect our community from some of the most common violent crimes that plague Minensotans.
If you or someone you know has been wrongly charged with a violent crime or similar type of criminal offense, pick up the phone and connect with a team of attorneys who know how to navigate the criminal justice system. For more information, or to set up a free case review session with someone from our legal team, give Appelman Law Firm a call today at (952) 224-2277.
