FBI: Violent crime rose in first 6 months of 2015 over 2014

The statistics show a 1.7 percent jump in the overall number of violent crimes reported by local law enforcement, with increases in murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The statistics provide some support for assertions, voiced in the last few months by local and federal law enforcement officials, of a crime spike in 2015.

FBI Director James Comey in October raised the possibility that officers, in the aftermath of the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri shooting, had turned to less proactive tactics for fear of being captured on viral videos and attracting public condemnation.