Crime in Spartanburg went up slightly last year, but long term data shows downward trend

Despite an uptick last year, crime in the city of Spartanburg remains on a steady downward trend over the last 27 years, according to 2023 statistics released by the Spartanburg Police Department in late February.

Most crimes documented in 2023 were reported as non-violent, stemming from property crimes such as shoplifting or thefts from vehicles. At a city council meeting on Feb. 26, Spartanburg PD Deputy Chief Jennifer Kindall emphasized the responsibility of citizens to secure their vehicles. According to department data, over half of firearm thefts in the city were from vehicles and most showed no signs of forced entry.

"My challenge to each of you as we go through the data is that you will look at it with the intent of helping us identify ways we can enhance safety and livability in our city," Kindall told city council members last month.

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Crime overall ticked up in 2023 but is down over long term

Between 2022 and 2023, Spartanburg saw a 9% uptick in overall crime.

However, the increase was only 3% above the past 10-year average. Generally, crime in the city is on a long-term downward trend. Since 1997, crime in Spartanburg has dropped 53%.

Spartanburg PD measures crime through "index crimes," similar to how the FBI collects statistics for its Uniform Crime Reporting program. These index crimes cover a wide array of offenses, including murder, non-negligent manslaughter, robbery, forcible rape, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson.

Most crime reported in 2023 was non-violent, violent crime almost even with 10-year average

Most index crimes reported by the SPD didn’t fall in the category of violent crime. Of all crimes documented, approximately 88% were property crimes, such as shoplifting (21%), theft from a vehicle (17%) and burglary (13%).

The Dorman Center off W. O. Ezell Boulevard and East Blackstock Road and the Walmart shopping center on East Main Street had the highest density of overall index crimes, including property crimes.

In February, Kindall told council members that many of the incidents officers report occur at the shopping centers that bookend the city and that it is not a new problem.

Overall, property crime reported in the city was just 4% above the 10-year average.

When looking at any type of crime year-to-year, seemingly significant increases or decreases are better contextualized with longer-term data, SPD data analyst Nicole Combs told the Herald-Journal in an email.

"Crime data are very similar to investment data – the numbers can be volatile in the short term. Instead of looking at month-over-month or year-over-year changes, I prefer to look at the month or year in comparison to an average of five or more previous periods," Combs said.

For instance, violent crime in Spartanburg rose 10% from 2022 to 2023. But compared to the past 10-year average, violent crime in 2023 was just 1% higher. Looking back even further, violent crime has dropped by 75% since 1998.

Violent crimes are defined by the SPD as murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Three-quarters of the violent crimes reported in Spartanburg last year were aggravated assaults. Just over 60% of violent crimes involved or "alleged" involvement of a firearm.

The areas near the intersections of Wofford St. & Baltimore St. and Crescent Ave. & Pineneedle Drive had the highest density of violent crimes, according to SPD data.

Spartanburg Police stress citizen responsibility for gun thefts, especially from vehicles

SPD officers have repeatedly emphasized gun theft as an issue in the city, most recently at the Feb. 26 city council meeting.

There were 139 reported incidents of gun theft last year, over half of which were stolen from a motor vehicle. Most of those guns stolen from vehicles showed no signs of force, according to the SPD’s data.

"I stress reported (thefts) because oftentimes irresponsible gun owners don’t know that their firearms have been stolen. And that’s sad,” Kindall said.

Previously: Spartanburg Police Chief says firearm thefts on the rise, city to host buyback program

The department has hosted multiple "gun buybacks" over the past several years, which officers say are attempts to collect unused and unwanted guns that could fall into the wrong hands.

Additionally, half of the general thefts from vehicles and 42% of home burglaries reported to the SPD last year were categorized as having no signs of forced entry.

Kindall called vehicles stolen with the keys left inside and guns taken from vehicles "giveaways," and stressed that citizens must be responsible with their property.

Can Spartanburg’s data be compared to national data?

The crime data issued to the media and presented at city council by Kindall differ slightly from the publicly available crime data on the FBI’s website. That information is collected under Incident-Based Reporting (NIBRS), a newer system for collecting crime data.

Combs said that the agency has kept the same, UCR-based methodology since 1997 for the sake of “continuity” and accurately tracking crime changes in the city over time. The agency also collects NIBRS data to submit to SLED, and in turn the FBI, but Combs discouraged comparing NIBRS data with the data Kindall presented on behalf of the department.

The NIBRS violent crime data suggests Spartanburg lingers above the state and national rates.

According to NIBRS FBI data from 2022, the most recent year of which data is available, the national rate of violent crime was 38.1 incidents per 10,000 people. The violent crime rate in Spartanburg, using census and FBI data from 2022, was 82.7 incidents per 10,000 people. The city’s population sits at just over 38,500.

However, national data is partially incomplete and comparing crime in jurisdictions should be done with caution.

The FBI often advises against comparing crime jurisdictions for several reasons, including population density or enforcement habits by local police. Even economic bases, such as tourism attracting nonresidents of a city, may affect crime discrepancies between areas.

In an email, Combs told the Herald-Journal that crime classifications and count calculations by different agencies are important caveats for regional comparisons.

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Due to recent changes in how agencies report data and the fact that some local agencies do not report at all, national and some state crime data is partially incomplete. The FBI’s national violent crime data from 2022 covered only 75% of the total population. This is less complete than in South Carolina, where 95% of law enforcement agencies reported, covering virtually the entire state population, according to the Marshall Project.

The violent crime rate in the state was 49.1 incidents per 10,000 residents, according to the FBI, higher than the national rate.

Chalmers Rogland covers public safety for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and USA Today Network. Reach him via email at crogland@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Crime in the city of Spartanburg: What does the data show?