27 – August – 2025 – Renton Community Update

Renton auto theft rates have become much worse over time, spiking during the (now-rescinded) police pursuit restrictions

US auto theft rates have trended down since 1990

A commenter on my previous blog entry requested long-term crime statistics for Renton, and I’m providing the information here. The data was originally gathered by Renton Police Department, and then submitted to and maintained by the FBI. The FBI Crime Data Explorer, where I acquired this data, can be found here. The reporting systems aren’t perfect, but to my knowledge this is the best data we’re going to find for this time period. (Renton provides five-year crime statistics on the City’s website, as I’ve previously discussed here, but does not supply statistics going back further.)

I’ve chosen to show homicide rates and auto thefts as representative samples on this post because these crimes have a high likelihood of having been consistently reported through the years, and they can help determine meaningful trends.

Unfortunately many serious crimes go unreported. For example, it’s estimated that as many as 75 % or more of rapes go unreported, so an increase in reported rapes from one year to the next might represent an increase in reporting versus an increase in the crime. Many assaults and domestic violence crimes also go unreported. But homicides have usually been reported through the years.

Similarly, shoplifting, petty theft and even burglaries have increasingly gone unreported in our state, but auto theft is usually reported due to insurance and licensing implications. Auto theft is is also correlated to increases in other crimes, as autos are frequently stolen to facilitate both property crimes and violent crimes.

Lasty, I’ve included statistics on highway fatalities, since about half of fatal accidents are related to criminal driving offenses like DUI and reckless driving, and car crashes have a devastating impact on many people’s lives. For every fatality, there are about three serious maimings that impact victims’ long-term quality of life. Much routine patrol work in our city and state is dedicated to reducing these crashes by pulling-over errant and criminally-reckless drivers.

In summary, while local crime trends have somewhat improved in the last year, Renton and Washington crime numbers are near all-time highs, and have not kept pace with the reductions in crime across the US overall.

The following three charts are homicide statistics for Renton, State of Washington, and US from 1986-2024: