Violent crime is on the increase across the country, and Utah is no exception.

A violent crime is being committed in the United States every 22.7 seconds. Every 3.1 seconds someone is the victim of a property crime, the FBI said in its annual crime report released Monday.

According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Statistics report, a homicide occurs in the United States every 31.5 minutes; a rape every 5.6 minutes; a robbery every 1.3 minutes; and an aggravated assault every 36.5 seconds.

According to raw numbers from the FBI's Uniform Crime Statistics report, violent crime rose 2.3 percent in America this past year. Property crimes dropped by only 1.5 percent. Homicides and robberies increased nationwide; rapes decreased. In the West, car thefts increased by 4.5 percent over the past year. The numbers have been published on the FBI's Web site, www.fbi.gov.

In Utah, preliminary numbers compiled by the Utah Department of Public Safety revealed that violent crimes increased slightly — up 1.24 percent in 2005. Robberies decreased by more than 10 percent, rapes increased 1.44 percent and aggravated assaults increased more than 5 percent.

"Violent crime increased, but property crime decreased," said Mary Ann Curtis, a data collections specialist for the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI). "We didn't have a real big increase in crime."

The FBI reported 56 homicides and non-negligent manslaughters in Utah in 2005. BCI's report said there were 54 reported homicides in 2005, compared to 42 in 2004. BCI's definition of homicide includes murder and manslaughter.

"We may get updated reports," said Curtis, explaining the difference in homicide numbers. "It could be they were reported as a homicide and later found out it really was an accidental death."

The FBI has a cut-off date for its statistics, while BCI allows police departments to amend their reports.

"We look relatively safe," said Mike Haddon, director of research for the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. He noted an increase in homicides in Utah and said car thefts have jumped nearly 9 percent for the population. Breaking it down by population, Haddon felt crime overall was declining.

In St. George, growth and construction is booming. So is property crime, police said.

"We've really been going on a lot of burglary and construction calls," St. George Police Sgt. Craig Harding said Monday. "The crimes that I think we're going out on are opportunistic crimes. We leave things out at and the criminal takes them."

More than $97 million in property was stolen in Utah in 2005. Only $31 million was recovered by police agencies in the state.

Details on crimes

• www.bci.utah.gov

• www.fbi.gov

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com