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Lee County Uniform Crime Report Numbers Overall crime down; violent offenses show slight tick up

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While non-violent offenses and overall crime in Lee County dropped for the first half of this year compared to the first six months of 2015, the number of violent offenses rose slightly.

On Wednesday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office released its Semi-Annual Uniform Crime Report. The figures are used by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to calculate the Index Crime Rate.

The Cape Coral Police Department’s report was unavailable as of Thursday.

“Our UCR isn’t ready yet,” Sgt. Dana Coston said. “It’ll be few weeks before we get them back.”

Officials at the Fort Myers Police Department reported that they were in the final verification stages. Once they submit another signed copy back to the FDLE, the report could be available after that.

According to the LCSO report, overall crime – the total of violent and non-violent offenses – decreased 11.71 percent from 2015 to 2016. There were 3,882 offenses in the first half of this year.

“These numbers reflect the hard work and dedication put forth around the clock by the men and women of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff Mike Scott said. “I could not be more proud of them.”

Violent crimes increased 0.52 percent as compared to last year – 776 offenses from 772 offenses. Violent crime consists of murder, forced sex crimes, robbery and aggravated assault-stalking.

On the other hand, non-violent crime declined 14.43 percent during the first half of this year – 3,106 offenses from 3,625 offenses. Non-violent crime consists of burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft.

Comparing the first six months, Lee County saw an uptick among aggravated assault-stalking, up 34 offenses to 498; forced sex crimes, up 14 offenses to 138; and thefts $50 to $200, up three to 481.

Murders rose from 10 recorded incidents last year to 12 recorded incidents for 2016.

The biggest dips from year-to-year were seen among thefts over $200, down 194 offenses to 1,224; residential burglaries, down 153 offenses to 675; and motor vehicle thefts, down 106 offenses to 189.

As for arrests, there was a 21.85 percent increase in the first six months of 2016 as compared to last year. A total of 8,159 arrests were made from January to June, versus 6,696 arrests during 2015.