The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has released an amended Kansas Crime Index Report for 2022 after the Wichita Police Department found that the crime data was incomplete.

The amended report said violent crime in Kansas had increased by 2.9 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year.   It increased in all categories except murder, which was down 2.9 percent.   There were a total of 13,808 violent crimes across Kansas in the categories of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault and battery.   The report said violent crime has been steadily rising each year since 2014, with only a slight decline in 2021.   Violent crime in 2022 was 17.5 percent above the ten-year average.

The report said property crimes were down by 4.1 percent for 2022, and property crimes have been on a steady decline since 2017, but these crimes are assumed to be underreported to law enforcement.

The Wichita Police Department found that its crime data appeared to be incomplete in the original Crime Index Report for 2022.   The Police Department notified KBI and a system error was found.   The error caused thousands of offenses not to be counted in the Kansas Incident Based Reporting System (KIBRS).  The system was reopened for 2022 submissions and there were 4,979 additional reports of major violent crime and property crime incidents that were collected across the state.   The KBI then amended the 2022 report and republished it.

Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan said in a press release that WPD worked with KBI to find the issue and resolve it, and he said extra checks have been put in place to make sure submitted data goes through a verification process.   KBI Director Tony Mattivi expressed thanks to the Wichita Police Department for its assistance.   He said the original report showed a slight decrease in violent crime last year, but with the additional crimes being accounted for, it was determined that violent crime had actually increased.

The KBI has been working on a major upgrade of the KIBRS system, and that will improve crime reporting and crime trend analysis in the state.