That chart shows exactly what I said, we have the highest rates since the mid 90s and there is a clear upward trend since 2014 (ten years ago now). Thats not "playing games"---its a lot more true than what the OP said.
And regardless, the fact that the first derivative is negative clearly makes "crime is going up" a lie. Crime is going DOWN right now, as measured. You need to be more specific: "Crime over the past 9 years is going up" would be true (but again, not if you replace 9 with 2 or 30!).