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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Attorney General Wayne Stenejhem today released North Dakota’s crime statistics for 2016.

The report was compiled from information reported by local law enforcement agencies across the state.

“The good news is that the overall crime rate is down slightly from last year, aggravated assaults appear to have plateaued, and DUI arrests continue to decrease. The bad news is the significant increase in drug arrests,” said Stenehjem.

There were seventeen homicides in 2016, down from 21 in 2015. All the victims were adults. Four victims died as a result of knife wounds. Two of the seventeen murders involved domestic violence, the lowest in eight years. Historically, nearly all the homicide cases in North Dakota are cleared by an arrest or other circumstances.

Aggravated assault was also down 4.5% from 2015. One major crime statistic that saw a major upswing was drug arrests. 4,866 drug arrests were reported in 2016, an increase of 11% from 4,382 drug arrests in 2015. The report shows a five-year trend of steadily increasing drug arrests and offenses.

Detailed crime statistics are available at https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/public-safety/crime-data.

Below are some charts released by the Attorney General.

DUI-Convictions-through-2016 DrugArrests AggravatedAssaults-2016