Statistics collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer reflects what many local residents have observed in recent years: Violent crime is up in Riverton.
The data shows 65 violent crimes were reported to the Riverton Police Department in 2022 – down slightly compared to 2021, when 69 violent crimes were reported, but up compared to the 2020 total of 59.
That 2020 total represented a 55 percent increase in violent crime compared to 2019, when 38 violent crime reports were recorded – and that’s up from 29 violent crimes reported in 2018, the year Riverton logged its lowest number of violent crime reports in the past decade, according to the data.
The FBI notes that the RPD began using the National Incident-Based Reporting System in 2020, and because NIBRS is “more robust,” the transition can have an impact on “crime volumes and rates.”
“When law enforcement agencies report crime data via NIBRS, the number of offenses may appear to increase in some instances,” the FBI wrote in a 2019 report, explaining that its former data reporting system only required law enforcement agencies to report “the most serious offense occuring within an incident.”
For example, “if a victim was robbed then murdered, only the murder was reported,” the FBI report states.
“In contrast, NIBRS allows law enforcement to report up to 10 offenses within a criminal incident,” the FBI said. “If a victim is robbed then murdered, NIBRS captures both the robbery and the murder.”
Aggravated assault
Aggravated assault made up the bulk of the violent crime recorded in Riverton in 2022, when 49 aggravated assaults were reported – 75 percent of all violent crimes.
In 2021, there were 46 aggravated assault reports, making up 67 percent of all violent crime reports locally, according to the FBI.
In 2020, there were 32 aggravated assault reports, contributing to 55 percent of all violent crime reports in Riverton.
In 2019, only 15 aggravated assaults were reported – 39 percent of all violent crime reports that year.
And in 2018, the RPD recorded 13 aggravated assaults – 45 percent of all violent crime reports.
Rape
Rape is another offense that contributes to the violent crime rate in Riverton.
Eleven rapes were recorded in Riverton 2022, making up 17 percent of all violent crimes reported that year, according to the FBI.
In 2021, 17 rapes were recorded, representing 25 percent of all violent crime reports.
Twenty-one rapes were reported in Riverton in 2020, making up 36 percent of all violent crimes reported that year, and in 2019, there were 19 rape reports – a total that represents 50 percent of all violent crime reported in Riverton that year.
Nine rapes were reported in 2018, or 31 percent of all violent crime reported in Riverton that year.
Lander, Fremont County
It’s more difficult to track recent crime statistics from the Lander Police Department and Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, because those agencies have not transitioned to the NIBRS system, which the FBI has used to collect all local law enforcement data since 2021, according to the agency’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
The LPD and FCSO are among 23 agencies in the state that don’t report to NIBRS, the Wyoming Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard during a meeting this month.
That means the state doesn’t have access to their data either – unless they “manually enter the information,” Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Deputy Director Allison Moore said.
Most of the agencies that haven’t been reporting to NIBRS say they lack the staff to do so, Moore explained, or they’re having issues with their record management software vendors – “something law enforcement across the country struggles with.”
“No one has told me that they don’t want to participate,” she said. “There’s a desire there to comply. They’re all aware that they’re statutorily required to submit their crime statistics to DCI. I think it’s just figuring out a way to overcome some of the struggles that they’re having.”
No ‘teeth’
Wyoming Division of Victim Services Director Cara Chambers pointed out that the statute requiring law enforcement agencies to submit their crime statistics to the state doesn’t include any penalties for failure to comply.
“(W.S. 7-1-102) doesn’t have any teeth,” she said, calling the situation “frustrating.” “Not all agencies are reporting, (and) there’s no real penalty.”
Wyoming Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, pushed back on the idea of penalizing law enforcement agencies for failing to report to NIBRS, however.
“You’re talking about (a) punishment to our law enforcement for not, basically, prioritizing this instead of other things,” she said. “I will not support that.”
Wyoming Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, noted that the incentive to use NIBRS “doesn’t necessarily have to be a stick – it can be some kind of carrot as well.”
Either way, he continued, “I do think it would be beneficial to the committee to find out what the holdup is.”
“I don’t want to just throw up my hands and say, ‘Well, we just couldn’t get everybody on board,’” he said. “That’s not good enough, in my opinion.”
The committee plans to revisit the discussion during their next meeting, when they hope to hear additional information from individual law enforcement agencies about the reasons they haven’t been reporting to NIBRS.
The Judiciary Committee’s next meeting is scheduled to take place Sept. 19-20 in Cheyenne.