New FBI crime data for 2024 paints a troubling picture for Washington state, where key violent crime categories have surged far beyond the national trend. While the rest of the country is seeing declines in violent crime, Washington is moving in the opposite direction.
According to data analyzed by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), Washington has now ranked dead last in police staffing per capita for the 15th year in a row. The state’s long-term shortage of officers, combined with restrictive policing laws passed in recent years, is helping drive crime numbers in the wrong direction.
Numbers Moving the Wrong Way
Between 2019 and 2024, the national murder rate dropped 3.55 percent. In Washington, it jumped 42.46 percent. Violent crime nationwide fell 6.28 percent over that same span, yet Washington’s violent crime rate climbed 8.16 percent.
One of the most alarming categories is aggravated assault. Nationally, aggravated assaults rose just 2.14 percent over five years. In Washington, the increase was nearly nine times higher—18.84 percent.
Vehicle theft tells a similar story. Across the U.S., thefts rose 15.99 percent. In Washington, they jumped 34.87 percent, more than double the national pace. While robbery and rape rates have edged downward, the state’s overall violent crime trend remains sharply higher than the national average. Property crime is also falling more slowly in Washington than in other parts of the country.
National Headlines vs. Local Reality
Speaking on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, WASPC executive director Steve Strachan warned that national headlines celebrating the “end” of the pandemic crime wave create a misleading picture for Washington residents.
“You’re going to hear phrases like, ‘We’re now below pre-pandemic levels’ or ‘The pandemic crime spike has been eliminated,’” Strachan said. “That may be true nationally, but here in Washington, we’re not seeing that. Our spike was greater, and our reductions are lower. Policy matters, and our laws matter.”
Listen to the full interview here:
Why Washington Is Different
Strachan pointed to controversial legislation passed in the wake of the 2020 riots and the “defund the police” movement, which severely restricted law enforcement tools such as vehicle pursuits while driving officers out of the profession.
“Other states passed reforms, but Washington essentially said, ‘Hold my beer,’ and went further than anyone else,” Strachan said. “Combine that with the fact that Washington has the lowest number of law enforcement officers per capita in the nation, and you start to see why our numbers are so out of line.”
While some of those laws have been amended, Strachan said the damage lingers: recruitment remains difficult, and many line-level officers still feel unsupported.
Looking Ahead
Despite some encouraging year-over-year numbers—such as a 35% decline in vehicle thefts between 2023 and 2024—Washington remains an outlier in the wrong direction.
“It’s good to celebrate progress, but we can’t just say, ‘It’s all better now, let’s move on,’” Strachan said. “We are not doing as well as other states in terms of reducing crime, and we need to pay attention to that. The decisions we make as a state matter, and right now, we’re headed in the wrong direction compared to the rest of the country.”
