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02/04/25 - Major crime statistics in the CNMI went down in 2024 compared to 2023, according to the Department of Public Safety’s Fiscal Year 2024 Citizen-Centric Report.
Landing again on the top spot of crimes committed in 2024 was disturbing the peace with 1,049 cases, which represented a 60.40% drop from the 2,640 disturbing the peace cases the year prior.
Theft cases also went down around 62.7% from 931 in fiscal year 2023 to 347 last fiscal year. Ditto for assault and battery and domestic violence cases which decreased 59.7% (120 in FY 2024 versus 298 in FY 2023) and 52.2% (119 in FY 2024 versus 249 in FY 2023), respectively.
In contrast, a spike in cases for misuse of bad checks, man’amko/elderly abuse, contempt of court, and assault of an officer were recorded in fiscal year 2024 compared to fiscal year 2023.
Misuse of bad checks went up a whopping 1,900% from 1 to 20, man’amko/elderly abuse 400% from 1 to 5 cases, contempt of court 22.2% from 9 to 11 cases in the past fiscal years, and assault of an officer 200% from 1 to 3.
Other crime stats that saw plunged from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024, according to DPS, are as follows:
Vandalism went down 77.1% from 149 to 34
Sexual assault went down 22.2% from 9 to 7
Sexual abuse of a minor went down 75.4% from 57 to 14
Resisting arrest went down 35.7% from 14 to 9
Making a terroristic threat went down 80% from 5 to 1
Illegal possession of controlled substance went down 45.2% from 42 to 23
Forgery went down 40% from 5 to 3
Criminal mischief went down 64.8% from 125 to 44
Contempt went down 81.1% from 27 to 5
Child abuse/neglect went down 53.8% from 78 to 36
Burglary went down 59.2% from 280 to 114
Assault with a dangerous weapon went down 53.1% from 60 to 34
Assault went down 45.8% from 146 to 7
DPS assistant chief of police and acting public information officer Simon T. Manacop attributed the decreases in majority of criminal indices to a couple of factors.
“I would say it might have been the austerity measures that kicked in as maybe people didn't have much income to, I don't want to say play with, but for them to actually spend more time out. So, they stay home. Also, another might be the community not being able to spend more on drug-related activities, weighing the needs and the wants. They might have given the option that they want to save more instead,” he said.
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Story by Mark Rabago
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