Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI’s Crime in the United States, 2012 report shows the number of violent crimes increased when compared to the year before.

David Cuthbertson: The number of violent crimes reported increased 0.7 percent, driven primarily by an increase in murders and aggravated assaults. However, property crimes decreased by 0.9 percent.

Halpern: That marks the 10th year in a row property crimes declined. I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau and this is FBI, This Week. The report is a statistical compilation from more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies. The agencies voluntarily report the figures to the FBI, which collects, compiles, and publishes them. David Cuthbertson is the assistant director of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division…

Cuthbertson: The FBI uses the crime data to inform our field offices about specific crime trends. The FBI can then employ our resources in a much more efficient manner.

Halpern: The FBI cautions against using the statistics to rank cities and counties.

Cuthbertson: Crime data is only one factor in determining whether a city would be safe or not.

Halpern: To see the full report, visit www.fbi.gov.