Murder Rate Mystery: New FBI Crime Stats Don’t Include NYC, LA
- Biggest US cities haven’t converted to new reporting system
- Policymakers urged to exercise care amid data ‘blind spots’
A police office carries crime scene tape in Alexandria, Virginia.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The FBI’s latest crime report shows violent crime dropped in 2021, but there are a few gaps in the data -- like New York and Los Angeles.
Police departments in the nation’s two biggest cities were among those that failed to convert to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s new data collection system, meaning they weren’t able to submit statistics for the report released Wednesday. The FBI and Justice Department instead made estimates for those cities.