FBI: Violent crime down for fifth straight year

Utah • Provo and West Valley City followed the U.S. trend.

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The number of violent crimes reported to police across the country fell 4 percent last year when compared to 2010, a fifth straight year of declines according to preliminary FBI data released Monday.

Two Utah cities included in the data, based on information the FBI gathered from 14,009 law enforcement agencies nationwide, followed the trend.

Provo reported a 23.9 percent decline in violent crimes from 196 in 2010 to 149 in 2011. West Valley City also reported a 2.9 percent drop, from 606 to 588.

The FBI said Monday the number of reported property crimes went down 0.8 percent, the ninth straight year-to-year decline. In Provo, property crimes saw a slight uptick from 2,752 to 2,888, but West Valley had a 7.2 percent decrease from 5,785 to 5,368.

The bureau also says murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault all went down in 2011.

Provo reported a sharp decline in the number of forcible rapes, down 43.7 percent from 48 in 2010 to 27 in 2011.

Motor vehicle theft dropped 3.3 percent, and larceny-theft decreased 0.9 percent.

Burglary offenses increased 0.3 percent.

The FBI's Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report tracks crime from January to December 2011. The final FBI report is slated to come out in September and will include other Utah police agencies including Salt Lake City police.

Cimaron Neugebauer contributed to this report.