Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home crime levels in 2011 were similar to 2010, up a little in some areas and down a little elsewhere, Police Chief Burford said.
The Sweet Home Police Department completed its draft annual report last week, with finalized crime numbers. The final report will be presented to the City Council this month.
Reported burglaries dropped slightly from 92 in 2010 to 83 in 2011, but thefts were up 31, from 388 to 419. Reports of criminal mischief were down 65, from 236 to 171.
“If you took an overall picture, there’s nothing that stands out too much,” Burford said. “With the challenges that have been thrown at the department the last year, holding a relatively flat trajectory from the previous year is probably cause for mild celebration. Our goal for 2012 will be to bend that trend line down.”
The department does have explanations for some of the changes in statistics, Burford said.
Status offenses, which are offenses involving juveniles, decreased. Two categories were down, including runaways, which dropped from 101 to 65 and protective custody, from 42 to 36. The juvenile offense category also was down slightly, from 285 to 276.
“The drop in status offenses – we eliminated the student resource officer early in the year, so we’re not addressing some of these issues with early intervention like we have,” Burford said.
Less patrol time is showing up in lower traffic statistics. Driving under the influence was down from 70 to 37, various traffic offenses were down from 716 to 608, insurance violations were down from 308 to 199 and license offenses were down from 85 to 70.
The DUIIs are still out there, Burford said, and with today’s economic conditions, he suspects may even be occurring at higher levels. But the department doesn’t have a traffic team out looking for them anymore.
One trend the department has noticed is an increasing number of calls dealing with mentally disturbed people, Burford said. Some of that ties directly to the transient population, while some of it isn’t. All of the department’s officers are dealing with more of it.
Police officer holds were about the same, increasing from 28 to 31, Burford said, but they were concentrated later in the year. The last quarter of 2011 was double the same quarter in 2010.
Calls involving fighting have gone up too, Burford said. Disturbances, which are typically verbal fights, were up by 62, 365 to 427. Disorderly conduct was up by 10, from 90 to 100. Simple assault was up from 89 to 101, and aggravated assaults was down six, from 16 to 10.
Some statistics can be skewed easily by a one person or a small handful of people, Burford said. Viewed as a percentage, with Sweet Home’s small sample size, changes in the number of reported crimes can appear large.
“That’s always been the problem with small communities,” Burford said. Small amounts of activity can cause large swings in percentages.
Arsons were up by 100 percent, from one to two, for example. Forcible rapes dropped to zero, from six the previous year. Motor vehicle thefts were up from 10 to 18. Murder was up to two, from zero. Attempted murder was at zero, down from one. Robbery was up 100 percent, from two to four.
The increase in the number of thefts was much smaller as a percentage, from 388 to 419, but a large portion of the increase can be tied to a larger number of unauthorized entries into motor vehicles during the summer. By the end of the year, the city had 134 UEMV reports, up from 109, a difference of 25, or about 80 percent of the increase in the total number of thefts.
Among other statistics, drug offenses were at 143, up from 111; forgery was down to three from 10; liquor offenses were down to 48 from 54; sex offenses were up to 40 from 31; trespassing was up to 133 from 78; and weapon offenses were at 18, down from 20.
The department received 45 fireworks complaints, up from 29. Suicide attempts were down to eight from 12. Agency assists were up to 649 from 581.
Total serious crimes, including aggravated assault, arson, burglary, forcible rape, motor vehicle theft, murder, attempted murder and robbery, were up to 538 from 516. Less serious “part two” crimes were down to 1,919 from 1,934.
Clearance rates were lower, with 1,193 of part two crimes cleared in 2011, down from 1,471 in 2010. The department cleared 127 of the serious “part one” crimes in 2011, down from 148.
The department arrested 646 adults on 1,160 charges in 2011, down from 911 adults on 1,225 charges in 2010. The department arrested 202 juveniles on 298 charges in 2011, down from 350 juveniles on 431 charges in 2010.
The department issued 950 traffic citations and 1,401 warnings in 2011, down from 1,235 citations and 2,381 warnings in 2010. Officers conducted 2,202 traffic stops in 2011, down from 3,258 in 2010.
Reported property loss was $284,000, down from $334,000. Police drove 148,833 miles, down from 167,743 miles. Officer sick time was at 2,270 hours, up from 1,551.
Total police calls were down by seven, from 8,512 to 8,505.