MINOT — Crime is central to a myriad of political and public policy debates we're having.

President Donald Trump asserts that people of Somali heritage are "garbage" in part because of crime rates. We had a rollicking debate during the legislative session earlier this year over sentencing policies, driven by assertions from one side of the argument that too-lenient prosecutors and judges and corrections officials were keeping dangerous criminals on the streets. Crime trends inform everything from law enforcement and corrections budgets to housing prices to the efficacy of programs like needle and pipe exchanges.

We inform these debates with crime statistics that, while not perfect, are nonetheless vital.

Yet North Dakota hasn't had a new statewide crime report since the data for 2023

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