Advertisement Albuquerque is now robbery capital of US Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The Albuquerque Metropolitan Area is now the robbery capital of the United States.According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report that was released Tuesday, the Albuquerque Metro had the highest per capita robbery rate in the country.The metro saw a nearly 50 percent increase in armed robberies in 2017 when compared to the previous year.More than 3,100 businesses or individuals were robbed in 2017 in Bernalillo, Valencia, Torrance and Sandoval counties. About 2,900 of those robberies happened in the city limits of Albuquerque.The city has never seen this many robberies in the 27 years it has kept crime statistics.Very few types of businesses were immune. Sandwich shops, pizza delivery men, nail salons and even ice cream shops were robbed in 2017, according to city crime data."I think it will prevent other businesses from coming into the market," said Tom Willis, owner of five Albuquerque-area Cold Stone Creameries. "I don't know why we are a target but it has happened (a) number of times obviously to us."Willis said he has no idea why bandits targeted his ice cream stores nearly 10 times.In the last report, the Albuquerque area had the highest number of auto thefts. It no longer holds that honor. The Anchorage metro area surpassed Albuquerque Metro in 2017.The Duke City now ranks second in the country. There was less than a 1 percent decline in auto thefts last year.The metropolitan area also ranks No. 1 in overall property crime, which includes burglaries, auto thefts and larcenies.Although Albuquerque broke the record for the number of homicides in 2017 with 70, the metro ranked 48th out of the 394 metro areas included in the report.Here is how Albuquerque Metro ranks in all crime categories. The FBI does warn that ranking metropolitan areas could create misleading perceptions.Overall Violent Crime – 4thMurder – 48thRape – 50thRobbery – 1stAggravated Assault – 10thOverall Property Crime – 1stBurglary – 11thLarceny-theft – 11thMotor Vehicle Theft – 2nd