I’ve added a new crime application on the Commercial Appeal’s Data Center, which uses Google Docs to interactively display the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports data from 1995-2008 for violent and property crimes.

There appears to be a trend upward in robbery, larceny and aggravated assault, but it’s important to note that the farther back in time you go, the more poor quality crime data is. In addition, as this article explains, the data reporting method changed in 2000 to National Incident-Based Reporting System standards, which inflates the numbers — especially when compared to past years and other cities. Not all cities yet comply with the NIBRS system.

Under UCR, one incident may have numerous crimes, and the most heinous of them is the one that gets reported. Under NIBRS, all those crimes are reported, so when NIBRS data is forced into the UCR structure, more crimes actually get reported.

So keep that in mind when you check out the numbers.