Police in Salt Lake City saw a significant decrease in aggravated assault and larceny reports in the first month of the COVID-19 shutdown.
The Police Executive Research Forum looked at the records of 30 police departments from March 16 to April 12 in 2019 and 2020.
Nationally, they saw a slight reduction in violent crime and a greater reduction in property crime.
In one interesting observation, the report noted that residential burglaries were down, but commercial burglaries up as people stayed away from workplaces and remained in their homes.
It was a mixed bag for Salt Lake City.
In terms of violent crime: aggravated assault decreased by about 3 incidents per 100,000 residents, but robberies were up by about 4 per 100,000.
In terms of property crime: larceny was down by about 25 incidents per 100,000 while motor vehicle theft increased by about 14 per 100,000.
Salt Lake City saw one of the study's most significant decreases in arrests for serious (Part 1) crimes. Overall, they made 54% fewer such arrests from March 16 to April 12, 2020 compared to the same time in 2019.
