Overall crime down in Utah, despite some disturbing trends

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SALT LAKE CITY — For a second year in a row, overall crime is down in Utah, according to new statistics released by the state.

This week, the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification released its annual Crime in Utah report for 2018.

Overall crime was down 12%, according to the report, with burglary, larceny, arson and motor vehicle theft all showing decreases from the year before. The overall crime index in 2018 dropped to its lowest level in a decade.

But overall violent crime was up 0.36%, according to the report. Although homicides were down for the second year in a row and robberies dropped nearly 17%, rape was up by 4.5% in 2018 and aggravated assault increased by 5.33%, the report states.

It marked the fifth year in a row that Utah has seen an increase in the number of rapes, according to the report.

The age group committing the most rapes were males between the ages of 15 and 19, according to the report. Disturbingly, the age group with the second-largest number of arrests for rape were males between the ages of 10 and 14.

Likewise, by far the largest group of people being arrested for robbery in 2018 were males and females between the ages of 15 and 19, according to the report. That demographic also accounted for the most burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicle thefts last year.

Firearms accounted for nearly 41% of all reported homicides in Utah in 2018, the report states.

The report also found that 60% of residential burglaries occurred during the day between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Another disturbing trend was the increase in hate crimes. The bureau reported a 49% increase in hate crimes in 2018, jumping from 35 the year before to 52.

The Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification defines a hate crime as “a criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, ethnic/national origin group, sexual orientation group, or disability.”

Prior to the 2019 Utah legislative session, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill contended several times that Utah did not have a hate crime statute that was useable for prosecutors.

In February, Carlo Alazo, 22, of Tampa, Florida, was charged with threatening to use a dangerous weapon during a fight, a class A misdemeanor, and two counts of assault, a class B misdemeanor.

Alazo was walking along Main Street near 350 South when he allegedly made derogatory comments at a gay man and then threw a punch at him and slapped a phone out of the man’s hands, according to charging documents.

Despite many believing the attack was motivated by the victim being gay, Gill said he could not charge it as a hate crime. Alazo returned to Florida, and then failed to show up for a court hearing in March. A warrant for his failure to appear remained in place as of Thursday.

In April, Gov. Gary Herbert signed a hate crime bill into law that toughens criminal penalties when victims are chosen because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics.

According to Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification statistics, crimes against homosexuals accounted for the most number of hate crimes in 2018, followed by crimes against blacks and crimes against white people. The majority of crimes against homosexuals were classified as simple assault, the report states.

Other types of hate crimes committed in 2018 were in the form of intimidation and property damage or vandalism, accordion to the bureau.

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