Police agencies reported a slight increase in violent crime along with a slight decrease in property crime in 2012, the FBI has announced.

The number of violent crimes in the nation increased by 0.7 percent, while the number of property crimes cell 0.9 percent. The highest increase in violent crime came in the western region at 3.2 percent, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.

In addition to the aggregate data, the FBI also analyzes the rate of offenses per 100,000 inhabitants in its annual Crime in the United States report. The 2012 statistics show that the estimated rate of violent crime was 386.9 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, and the property crime rate was 2,859.2 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. While the violent crime rate remained virtually unchanged when compared to the 2011 rate, the property crime rate declined 1.6 percent.

The west region led the way in violent crime increases. The Midwest region also rose, logging a 1.5 percent increase. The northeast region fell 1.2 percent, while the south region fell 0.3 percent. However, the south region accounted for 40.9 percent of all reported violent crimes.

In 2012, agencies reported 1.21 million violent crimes. The number of murders increased 1.1 percent. There were 8.97 million property crimes. Motor vehicle thefts increased 0.6 percent.

Law enforcement agencies made 12.2 million arrests. The arrest rate for violent crime was 166.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the rate for property crime was 528.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The UCR program collects information on crimes reported by law enforcement agencies regarding the violent crimes of murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault as well as the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

A total of 18,290 city, county, state, university and college, tribal, and federal agencies participated in the UCR program in 2012. There were 14,006 law enforcement agencies that reported employing 670,439 sworn officers as of Oct. 31.

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