Crime drops, discrimination rises as motivator

• Published May 05, 2008

We assaulted one another in violent fashion, and we were more motivated by our ethnic differences, but other than that, Washingtonians behaved better last year.

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs released the preliminary 2007 crime statistics today, and they tell an interesting tale: drops in crime of all types. The overall crime rate per 1,000 people dropped by 10 percent to 43.3.

Vehicle theft, which the association targeted in the Legislature last year, dropped by 18 percent. Murder and forcible rape are down by more than 5 percent each. Arson and burglary both fell by a little less than 10 percent.

In crimes, only aggravated assault went up, by 0.2 percent (30 more incidents in 2007, 12,658).

It'd be a near shut-out for good news, but there's an ugly trend sticking out. Crimes motivated by “Hate/bias” went up by 15 percent, to 251 incidents.