Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The City of Sweet Home had fewer serious crimes in 2006, compared to 2005, but the number of minor crimes reported were only slightly less.
“I think I said in 2005, we definitely had a spike year,” Police Chief Bob Burford said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be a trend.”
He said he hasn’t run five-year numbers yet, but he believes that while 2006 numbers are lower than 2005, they remain above 2004.
Among the serious “Part I” crimes, from 2005 to 2006, the number of aggravated assaults decreased from 40 to 24. Burglaries were down from 196 to 140. Motor vehicle thefts were down from 42 to 24, and the number of thefts decreased from 596 to 406.
In 2006, Sweet Home had three arsons, up from two; five forcible rapes, up from four; and four robberies, down from five. Sweet Home had no reported murders or attempted murders.
Sweet Home had 606 Part I crimes total in 2006, down from 885.
“We know midway through ’05, we were getting hit real hard (in burglaries and thefts),” Burford said. “So we’ve focused what efforts we could on it, including some sting operations.”
Theft and burglary numbers are tied to specific individuals, Burford said. “When we get them into the prison system and out of the community, there’s usually a drop in our crime. When it rises, sure enough, we can spot some of our frequent fliers back out in the community.”
Aggravated assaults, which spiked heavily in 2005, skewing Sweet Home’s serious crime rate above other Linn cities, were cut nearly in half in 2006. Other agencies report their aggravated assaults differently, Burford said, but Sweet Home is continuing to report them the same way.
“The one constant that I can see throughout the years is when we have adequate manpower out on the road, with sufficient uncommitted patrol time to work follow-up and work preventative control, our crime goes down,” Burford said. “When we’re short on staff, due to hiring an officer or officers injured or ill or budget cuts, crime shoots up.”
Among less serious “Part II” crimes, Sweet Home had 232 criminal mischief reports, up from 192; 54 driving under the influence cases, up from 43; 113 simple assaults, up from 109; 91 disorderly conduct reports, up from 88; and 412 warrant arrests, down from 579.
Sweet Home had 1,776 Part II crimes reported, down from 1,834.
Part III crimes include violations, some minor crimes, death investigations, information reports and a variety of other types of calls. Among them, Sweet Home had seven suicide attempts, down from 15; 119 warrants issues, down from 253; 10 fireworks complaints, down from 40; 107 domestic calls, dwon from 267; and 595 agency assists, up from 520.
On traffic patrol, police issued 835 citations, up from 671, with 600 different persons cited, up from 474. Police issued 1,393 warnings, up from 1,147 and stopped 1,993 drivers, up from 1,621.
The majority of citations were for violations of the rules of the road, such as speeding, driving while suspended and failure to obey traffic control devices. Police issued 466 tickets of this type, up from 363. Police also issued 206 citations for driving uninsured, failure to carry proof of insurance and providing false information regarding insurance information, up from 155.
Police responded to a total of 9,002 complaints, down from 9,547. Sweet Home dispatchers handled 16,286 calls, down from 18,693.
Sweet Home residents reported $521,063 in property loss to crimes in 2006, down from $593,883 in 2005. Police recovered $83,803 in property, down from $127,870 in 2005.
Police drove 151,782 miles, up from 142,897 miles.
Five police officers were injured, up from two. The injuries were all minor, although one injury has kept an officer off the street for several months, on light duty.
In the first quarter of 2007, Sweet Home Police Department is running about 200 calls ahead of 2006 and about 100 more than in 2005.
Burglaries in 2007 are on track to be less than 2005 but more than 2006, he said, and the department is short one officer right now.
Sweet Home and other agencies have had problems finding qualified individuals, Burford said. There are plenty of people who want to serve as police officers, but many of them don’t make it through the selection process for a variety of reasons.
Sweet Home Police Department is opening its hiring process again after failing to find a suitable candidate to fill its one open officer position, Burford said.