U.S. Homicides Dropped 16% in 2024
Most violent crime rates have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new report shows

Crime is expected be a major focus for state lawmakers and the Trump administration.

The number of homicides across the United States declined by 16% in 2024, continuing a recent downward trajectory, according to the latest crime trends report from the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank.

Homicides spiked during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and crime became a central focus of President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign. Trump insisted that FBI crime data showing declines was “fake” and claimed that crime was “through the roof.” The second Trump administration is expected to adopt a tough-on-crime approach.

State legislatures nationwide also are expected to prioritize a variety of criminal justice measures this year, including prison oversight, illegal immigration, retail theft and policing standards and procedures. Polls show most Americans see crime as a significant problem, though fewer than in recent years.

The Council on Criminal Justice, known as CCJ, gathers data from individual law enforcement agencies for its biannual crime trends reports, meaning the data is more recent than the FBI’s annual report. Both the think tank’s and the FBI’s reports, however, show a similar turnaround in violent crime.

In 2023, criminal homicide — which the FBI defines as murder or non-negligent manslaughter — was down by 11.6% from the previous year. It was the largest single-year decline in two decades, according to the FBI’s annual crime report published last year.

The CCJ report shows that the downward trend appears to be continuing, with homicides in 2024 dropping by 16% compared with 2023. That drop equates to 631 fewer homicides in the 29 cities that provided data for the category, according to the council’s report.

If this decrease holds as more jurisdictions report their data to the FBI later this year, 2024 would rank among the largest single-year homicide drops since at least 1960, the start of modern record-keeping, according to the report. stateline.org


Store Panic Buttons
Select Starbucks Stores Have a Panic Button: Why Do They Need It?
Select Starbucks stores have a panic button hidden underneath their counters that baristas can access if necessary. Is there a reason they need it?

Per Fortune Magazine, the button is installed in select stores. Fortune cited a Starbucks employee who revealed the presence of the panic button, which should be utilized as a safety measure only. It is reportedly only supposed to be used when there is an incident that would require further assistance than normal or when customers or workers feel unsafe. However, that same employee said they didn’t have explicit training on when to push it.

This button activates an emergency lock-down. It secures the doors to outside customers while allowing those inside the store to exit. When a barista hits that button, an internal security team is also alerted.

The button has only been installed in around five U.S. stores to test its effectiveness. It was installed to assist with in-store security and help its baristas feel safer while working, particularly since Starbucks reversed its open-door policy for customers. The previous open-door policy was put in place in 2018 after two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks where they had gone for a business meeting.

According to Business Insider, testing these panic buttons is just one way Starbucks is prepping for the policy reversal. It is also training its employees to de-escalate conflict with customers who are breaking its new guidelines, such as those sitting in-store for a “prolonged” amount of time without buying anything or asking to fill up a water bottle without making a purchase. retailwire.com


Crime Closures Continue in California Cities
Theft concerns, retail’s downward national trend make Rip Curl latest downtown Santa Cruz closure
A second national surf apparel retailer closed its downtown Santa Cruz location last week amid apparent ongoing concerns about employees’ health and safety, but others say the closure speaks more to the changing retail landscape nationally.

A sign posted last week on the window of the Rip Curl Surf Center at 1395 Pacific Ave., at the corner of Church Street, said the store was closed as of Monday, Jan. 20, but that its other two locations in the county remained open.

A manager at the retailer’s 41st Avenue store said all employees of the downtown store had been offered the opportunity to transfer there or to the outlet store on Mission Street in Santa Cruz. Most took that option, Katie Armstrong told Lookout on Wednesday.

Armstrong said theft on Pacific Avenue was a factor for the store’s closure, adding, “It was putting the health and safety of my employees at risk.”

The conversation around downtown safety – and its impact on downtown retail – continues to resonate. City leaders caution that reality might not always match perception, but it’s a nuanced situation. lookout.co
 

Store Owners Urge Police to Act
UK: Police need to do more to stop theft - shopkeepers
Retailers in a town have called for police to do more to prevent shoplifting. The owners of the two small businesses in Towcester, Northamptonshire, said thefts often went unpunished and police response times were too slow.

Sawsan Gamgoum, owner of jewellery shop Flair Designer Wear, said: "Five weeks after we opened, we had a break-in and they took everything. It was heart-breaking. Nothing came of it." Northamptonshire Police said it had seen an increase in reporting and detection rates for shop theft.

Last year, a House of Lords inquiry found there were more than 443,000 incidents of shop theft recorded by police in England and Wales in the year to March 2024 – the highest ever since records began 20 years ago.

Although, the inquiry estimated there were more likely about 17 million incidents annually because so many went unreported by victims.

A spokesperson for Northamptonshire Police said the force had seen an increase in both "our reporting and detection rates" for shop theft since the formal launch of its dedicated retail crime team last year.

They said that historically, shop theft reporting across Towcester was low, but encouraged anyone who had "suffered any form of retail crime to make a report to us". bbc.com

 
Canada's Retail Theft Battle
Businesses continue to battle organized retail theft
The Globe and Mail reports that organized retail theft is becoming more brazen—and more violent. At a Toronto Shoppers Drug Mart location, an employee was pushed to the ground while following a group of seven people charging the exit with more than $8,000 worth of product in tow.

“Retailers across the country are experiencing a rise in violent incidents, threats, and increasingly aggressive behaviour,” Darrell Jones, president of Pattison Food Group, told the newspaper. hardlines.ca


Rocky Mount Police enhance patrols with data-driven technology to combat crime trends

Fairfield opens upgraded, more user-friendly portal for police crime data