Final FY25 Adopted Budget

Iowa City Police Department Statistics

Why We Exist: The mission of the Iowa City Police Department is to protect the rights of all persons within its jurisdiction to be free from crime, to be secure in their possessions, and to live in peace. By pursuing the goals of education, prevention and enforcement, it is the primary objective of the Iowa City Police Department to pursue the ideal of a community free from crime and disorder in a fair, responsive, collaborative and professional manner.

General Police Data Discrepancies

Performing a comparative analysis between local jurisdictions is an imperfect process. Data are influenced by differences in definitions, reporting, and collection measures. It must be noted that it is important to focus on the trends in the data rather than any one specific data point between communities. While measures have been taken to universalize and standardize the data, the trend in the data is the most valuable information provided.

Data & Comparison

The data presented below represent the raw data collected by the Iowa City Police Department and information gathered from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Iowa City data synthesis for 2012 to 2019 is based on the 2010 US Census population. Iowa City 2020-2022 data synthesis is based on the 2020 US Census population. The comparison of Iowa City with the nine largest cities in Iowa is based on 2020 US Census population. The comparison uses the UCR system, which is described below.

UNIVERSAL CRIME REPORTING (UCR 1)

Crimes can be reported in various ways. The UCR system has been a standard used by police departments across the United States and is utilized by the State of Iowa as a means of reporting data. UCR1 data specifically refers to two groups of crimes: UCR 1 Property Crimes and UCR 1 Violent Crimes. The following crimes are represented in these two groups:

UCR 1 Property Crimes

UCR 1 Violent Crimes

Arson

Murder/Non-Negligent Manslaughter

Burglary Larceny

Forcible Rape

Robbery

Shoplifting

Aggravated Assault

All forms of theft

While more crimes exist, these crimes are utilized to provide an overview of workload and highlight serious crimes in a community. Even with universal reporting, actual reporting of crimes may vary between communities.

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