Violent crimes rise in City of Corning, number of "cleared cases" decline

CORNING, N.Y. (WETM) – The FBI’s 2022 “Crime in the Nation” report analyzed data from 15,724 law enforcement agencies nationwide. The report shows violent crime in the U.S. decreased in 2022 by 1.7%, when compared to 2021. The FBI also highlighted the following findings:

Murder and non-negligent manslaughter recorded a 2022 estimated nationwide decrease of 6.1% compared to the previous year.
In 2022, the estimated number of offenses in the revised rape category saw an estimated 5.4% decrease.
Aggravated assault in 2022 decreased an estimated 1.1% in 2022.
Robbery showed an estimated increase of 1.3% nationally.

18 News is taking a closer look at what the report shows about cities in our area. In the City of Corning, the report shows violent crimes have been rising since 2019, while the number of “cleared” or closed cases is declining. Violent crimes include homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The report shows 53 violent crimes were reported in Corning in 2022. 6 of them were cleared. 33 violent crimes were reported in 2020. 11 of them were cleared. Reported violent crimes in Corning are still below a high of 65 in 2015. According to the 2020 Census, the population of the City of Corning is 10,551.

The FBI says the reason 2021 figures are not shown is “Due to the full transition to NIBRS and the lack of data for agencies that are not fully transitioned, the 2021 data year cannot be added to the 5-, 10- or 20-year trend presentations that are based in traditional methodologies used with summary data.”

The report shows homicides in Corning are flat. There was one homicide in 2022. So far, it has not been cleared. There was one cleared homicide in 2020. A homicide in 2017 was cleared in 2018. The report notes crimes are not always cleared in the year they occur.

The report says there were 9 reported rapes in 2020, with one case cleared. In 2022, there were 13 reported rapes. The report does not say any of them were cleared.

The report shows 3 robberies were reported and cleared in 2020. There were 9 reported robberies in 2022. So far, 2 have been cleared.

There were 20 aggravated assaults reported in 2020, with 6 cases cleared. There were 30 reported aggravated assaults in 2022. So far, the report says 4 cases have been cleared.

Property crimes in Corning are flat. There were 273 property crimes reported in 2020. 62 cases were cleared. There were 276 property crimes reported in 2022, with 18 cases cleared.

There were no arsons reported in 2022. There was 1 reported arson in 2020. The report shows it was not cleared. Burglaries are down slightly, from 68 to 62.

Larcenies are down by 1. There were 198 thefts reported in 2020, and 197 reported in 2022. Motor vehicle thefts rose from 7 to 17 in 2022. The report says no cases were cleared that year.

As we reported in August, the Corning Police Department doesn’t use an incident-based records system that tracks gunfire incidents. Corning City Manager Mark Ryckman told 18 News he believed shootings were “probably flat.”

18 News reached out to Corning Police Chief Kenzie Spaulding for comment. In an email, Chief Spaulding wrote:

“The Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is authorized by statute to serve as the central repository of crime and arrest information for New York State. DCJS oversees the UCR Program for the State and reports crime and arrest data to the FBI. Corning Police Department submits monthly crime reports to DCJS. These crime reports are reviewed by DCJS personnel for completeness and accuracy before being added to the statewide database and submitted to the FBI. DCJS also prepares special statistical reports which are disseminated to the law enforcement community and made available to the public on the DCJS website statistics page.

Below are the numbers submitted by the Corning Police Department to DCJS through the Uniform Crime Reporting for 2022.”