Of all AZ and NM tribes, Navajo had more violent crimes in 2014
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero The Navajo Nation Drug & Gang Unit along with the Strategic Reaction Team aim their weapons at the front door of a suspected meth dealer on an early Feb. 12, 2014 in Shiprock while executing a search warrant. Officers arrested two men without incident. During their search, officers found 2.2 grams of meth and stolen firearms.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
In this Feb. 12, 2014 file photo, Navajo police officers closely keep watch on two men who lie handcuffed on the ground early Wednesday morning after executing a search warrant in Shiprock.
WINDOW ROCK
New Mexico continues to face a higher degree of violent crimes than most other states, according to figures released recently by the FBI.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
The Navajo Nation Drug & Gang Unit along with the Strategic Reaction Team aim their weapons at the front door of a suspected meth dealer on an early Feb. 12, 2014 in Shiprock while executing a search warrant. Officers arrested two men without incident. During their search, officers found 2.2 grams of meth and stolen firearms.
National figures put out by the FBI for 2014, the latest year that is available, places New Mexico as the fourth highest state when it comes to the amount of violent crime per capita.
And figures provided for crime in Indian Country shows violent and property crime per capita far higher on the Navajo Reservation than for any other tribes in the country.
These figures coincide with figures released annually by the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.
New Mexico in 2014, according to FBI figures, showed 8,653 cases of violent crimes in metropolitan areas, 2,908 in the smaller cities in the state and 895 in rural areas in the state.
Violent crimes include murders, rapes, and aggravated assaults (usually with a weapon of some kind).
Looking at the counties in the state, San Juan ranked third (behind Bernalillo and Valencia) and McKinley County rates third in the state behind Otero and Taos for crime in non-metropolitan areas.
McKinley County Undersheriff Paul Lucero said Wednesday that crime in the county is high “but it seems to be getting a little better.”
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