SARASOTA COUNTY — Crime dropped more than
16 percent countywide in 2012 compared to 2011, according to Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight.

Data for Sarasota County in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Index released Friday shows violent crimes such as robbery, murder and aggravated assault decreased by nearly 18 percent. There were 359,051 crimes reported in 2012, with 46,881 of them considered violent.