Chapter 5: Insurance-Related Crimes
Ohio's Crime Picture
 
The chart below shows a comparison of crimes against property for selected Ohio cities. Crime rates have a bearing on the coverage amounts needed and eventually the rates charged for insurance protection.
Terms (as defined in FBI Uniform Crime Reports)

Robbery: The taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

Burglary: The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. The use of force to gain entry is not required to classify an offense as burglary.

Larceny: Larceny-theft is the unlawful taking, carrying, leading or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. It includes crimes such as shoplifting, pocket-picking, purse-snatching, thefts from motor vehicles, thefts of motor vehicle parts and accessories, bicycle thefts, etc., in which no use of force, violence or fraud occurs. For reporting purposes, motor vehicle theft, embezzlement, "con" games, forgery and worthless checks are excluded from this category.

The chart below, the US Crime Clock, compares the frequency of these criminal occurrences for the years 1994 and 1998. This information represents the annual ratio of crime to fixed time intervals. Both property and violent crime statistics are provided for additional means of comparison.
A study by Columbus, OH-based Safeware Insurance found that more than 1.5 million computers were stolen, damaged or otherwise destroyed in 1998. Reported accidents to notebook PCs dominate the losses at 49%. More than a quarter of all reported notebook losses were due to theft, a decrease of 11% over the previous year.
(Business First, 6/18/99)
Ohio's Crime Picture by Selected Cities-1997 and 1998
  Robbery Burglary Larceny
City 1997 1998 % Change 1997 1998 % Change 1997 1998 % Change
Canton 392 327 -16.6 1,360 1,266 -6.9 3,679 3,392 -7.8
Cincinnati NA 1,350 NA NA 5,185 NA NA 14,983 NA
Cleveland 3,837 3,364 -12.3 8,146 6,850 -15.9 14,305 14,056 -1.7
Columbus 3,104 2,615 -15.8 13,453 13,526 0.5 35,882 36,338 1.3
Dayton 1,161 1,050 -9.6 3,719 4,047 8.8 8,312 8,735 5.1
Toledo 1,097 894 -18.5 5,817 5,182 -10.9 16,164 14,103 -12.8
Youngstown 390 414 6.2 2,036 2,201 8.1 2,460 2,725 10.8
STATEWIDE 17,755 14,960 -15.7 94,972 90,805 -4.4 315,908 310,612 -1.7
NATIONAL 498,534 446,625 -10.4 2,460,526 2,329,950 -5.3 7,743,760 7,373,886 -4.8
NA = Not available
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1997 and 1998