This week, the Kentucky State Police released their 2023 Crime in Kentucky report. Overall, KSP stated in a report that crime rates remain quite stable. In a year, the state saw slight decreases in several violent crimes; nevertheless, this was not consistent, and the report revealed significant spikes in human trafficking, animal cruelty, and motor vehicle thefts.
The report is a summary of statistics compiled from offense and arrest data submitted by law enforcement agencies around the state. This graph depicts the rate of crimes recorded in both 2022 and 2023, the growth or reduction from year to year, and the proportion of one offense to the overall number of significant crimes committed in the state. While the number of instances remains modest at 60 for the year, the rate of human trafficking increased the greatest, by over 40%.
This year, Kentucky lawmakers passed House Bill 3, which fines airports, truck stops, hotels, and bus stations for failing to post mandated human trafficking hotline awareness signage required by a preceding 2020 law.
“We want to make sure that number keeps getting out there. And that was part of the original objective when we passed the legislation in 2020,” Rep. Suzanne Miles, HB 3’s sponsor, told a committee of lawmakers in March. The bill also authorizes the attorney general to organize a law enforcement working group that will lobby against human trafficking.
KSP stated in its release that it believes the increase in human trafficking reports is connected to increased law enforcement training and a statewide campaign for increased public awareness. Animal cruelty rates have also increased significantly, which lawmakers attempted to address this year.
“Our animals are suffering in Kentucky. We’re seeing a lot of neglect. Sometimes we witness intentional maltreatment. “We receive approximately 1600 calls for animal cruelty each year,” Lexington animal cruelty investigator Jai Hamilton told FOX 56 earlier this year. Later this month, a new law will go into effect, making extreme mistreatment or torture of a cat or dog a felony charge.
According to the research, despite these increases, animal cruelty and human trafficking account for fewer than 1% of major crimes in the state. Motor vehicle thefts alone account for more than 5%, and the rate has risen by about 18% since 2022, totaling more than 2000 instances. In addition, lawmakers established a new carjacking statute this year as part of the comprehensive Safer Kentucky Act FOX56NEWS reported.
The report has some positive news, including a decrease in burglaries, robberies, sex crimes, kidnappings, and homicides for the third year in a row. The highest reported decrease was in gambling crimes, which dropped by more than 87% to six total offenses in 2023, the same year Kentucky authorized sports betting.