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Library News

Uniform Crime Report

By David Schmidtke

Since 1935, the Minnesota Legislature has mandated the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), to collect statistics on crime data from Minnesota law enforcement agencies. The 1934 Biennial Report of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported statistics on the crimes we are familiar with today, but also included “Adultery,” “Circulating false rumors about banks,” and “Defrauding an inn keeper.” Interestingly, there were 32 bank robberies in 1933 for a total loss of $125,383.40, with $4,773.19 recovered. The next year, 1934, only reported seven bank robberies, for a total loss of $13,327.23. A Minneapolis Tribune column from December 1934 attributes the decline in bank robberies to the persistent efforts of both federal and local police officers to break up "bandit gangs."

To this day, the BCA continues to publish crime statistics under the title Uniform Crime Report. While it no longer reports on crimes of “Adultery,” “Circulating false rumors about banks,” and “Defrauding an inn keeper,” it is rich with statistics on crimes of violence, property crimes, and firearms discharge and uses of force. Crime statistics fluctuate over years, but the 2021 Uniform Crime Report lists that there were 33 bank robberies that year, only beating out 1934 by one robbery.

This last year, the BCA launched a related interactive database, the Minnesota Crime Data Explorer. According to the BCA, this database contains more detailed information from which current crime data can be obtained at any time.  It also contains summary data about the most serious offense associated with an incident, more details on all crimes associated with an incident, as well as detailed data about victims and offenders.