(Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldextra.com)

PROVO, Utah (AP) — A Utah law enforcement report says there were fewer crimes overall in the state last year, although the number of sexual assaults increased for the fifth year in a row.

The Daily Herald reported Tuesday that the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification published the annual Crime in Utah report documenting crimes committed in 2018.

The report that uses data from local law enforcement agencies says 80,622 index crimes were committed in 2018, a nearly 12% decrease from 2017.

Index crimes are eight offenses used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to produce its annual index of national crime.

The report says the number of Utah rapes reported in 2018 increased by 4.5% over 2017.

Hate crimes also increased by almost 50%, from 35 reports in 2017 to 52 in 2018.