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The California Department of Justice recently released a report highlighting a decrease in violent crime across the state. However, the data underlying the report is flawed due to errors from the Oakland Police Department. The report claimed a 3% increase in violent crime from 2022 to 2023, but this was skewed by incorrect data from Oakland, which reported a 138% spike in aggravated assaults. The actual increase was only about 21%, according to Oakland's own year-end report.
The issue arose when Oakland submitted inaccurate data, showing violent crimes rising from 6,516 in 2022 to 15,491 in 2023. In reality, the numbers were 6,201 in 2022 and 7,526 in 2023. The discrepancy was attributed to human error, with Oakland police acknowledging the mistake and committing to revisiting the data.
The attorney general's office compiles the statewide report but relies on local agencies for accurate data. They stated that they do not have the responsibility to verify each submission. "The onus is on every police department to report accurate data," a spokesperson said, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Chronicle found that if Oakland had reported a 20% increase in aggravated assaults, violent crime in California would have remained flat. Other cities, like Hayward, also reported significant jumps in crime, but their accuracy remains unverified. San Francisco's crime rates showed less drastic changes, with a 4% rise in violent crime and a 6% drop in property crime.
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