Violent crime falls from pandemic high, but fentanyl plentiful

Mayor Paul TenHaken, law enforcement officials deliver 2023 crime report

Violent crime in Sioux Falls fell in 2023 after peaking in 2020, but the rate of violent crime continued to exceed pre-pandemic levels, city officials reported Tuesday.

Mayor Paul TenHaken was joined by law enforcement officials from the city and Minnehaha County to deliver statistics from last year.

“There are a lot of cities that would love to be giving this briefing today,” TenHaken said.

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The rate of violent crime dropped to 5.88 incidents per 1,000 people – a per-capita rate measured to account for changes in the city’s population over the last decade. That rate hit a high of 6.55 incidents per 1,000 people in 2020. In the seven years prior to 2020, the city averaged about 4.66 incidents a year.

Violent crimes include homicides, rapes, assaults and robberies.

While aggravated assaults increased from 560 in 2022 to 627 last year, domestic assaults decreased from 471 to 420. Robberies fell from 169 to 144 and rapes decreased from 90 to 66.

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