The latest statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show an upward trend in violent crime in Alaska. The information in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR) reveals Alaska is not alone in this development; violent crime is up nearly four percent nationwide.
The most recent data is from 2015. That year, there were 59 cases of murder and non-negligent manslaughter in Alaska, an increase from 41 the year before.
Former Anchorage Police Department Detective Glen Klinkhart said due to the relatively small sample size, people should avoid worrying too much about the new statistics.
“You can’t show a trend if it’s only small numbers, if you’re beginning with a small pool of numbers,” Klinkhart said. “Is it something to be concerned about? Possibly. Is it something to be looked at? Absolutely.”
He said there were more violent times in Anchorage’s history. For example, a record number of homicides in Anchorage in 1996, or a streak of murders in the early ‘80s.
“We had some bad times,” Klinkhart said. “Take between 1981 and ’82. Between my sister’s murder and Charles Meach killing four teenagers in Russian Jack Park that year, we lost five kids – five young people, just like that. If that happened today, people would be out of their minds.”
The pattern of violent crime revealed in the UCR continues beyond homicides, however. The number of robberies, for instance, increased from 629 to 761 between 2014 and 2015. Still, Klinkhart said people should take a good look at the past before complaining about the present.
“It’s one thing to have fear. It’s another to have unfounded fears,” he said.
FBI Anchorage spokesperson Staci Feger-Pellessier said no one at the regional office was available for an interview about the statistics.
KTVA 11′s Eric Ruble can be reached via email or on Facebook and Twitter.
