FBI reports 3% drop in serious crime

Serious crime in the United States dropped by 3 percent last year compared to 1981, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported Sunday. It was the first significant decline in major crime since 1977.

According to its final crime index figures, the FBI said, aggravated assault showed an increase in 1982 compared to the previous year. The figures also showed that such offenses, up 1 percent from 1981, accounted for more than half the amount of violent crime in the US in 1982.

The FBI said the number of arrests, mostly for drunken driving, also rose by 2 percent in 1982 and was 13 percent above the 1978 total.