Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Reported crime was down, and arrests were up in Sweet Home last year, according to statistics finalized by the Sweet Home Police Department last week.
In 2007, the number of reported crimes continued to decline from their peak in 2005 while the number of arrests climbed to an all-time high for a single year, according to the department’s annual report.
Overall, Sweet Home police officers answered 8,825 calls for service in 2007, down from 9,002 in 2006 and a record 9,547 in 2005.
Police made 1,811 arrests in 2007, up from 1,566 in 2006 and 1,653 in 2005.
“You will note that the three ‘bellwether indicator crimes,’ burglary, theft and criminal mischief are all down over 2006 levels,” Police Chief Bob Burford said. “While this is good news, it should be noted that 2006 was a devastating year in terms of the number of crimes affecting our residents.
“The improvement is welcomed, but no one is patting themselves on the back just yet. It’s a trend we’re going to try to continue, but we’re not taking anything for granted. And we’ll just keep plugging away at it.”
In 2007, Sweet Home had 202 reports of criminal mischief, down from 232 in 2006. Sweet Home had had 124 burglaries, down from 140; and it had 312 thefts, down from 406.
Overall, Sweet Home had 465 serious crimes, referred to as “Part I” crimes, including aggravated assault, arson, burglary, forcible rape, motor vehicle theft, robbery and theft. Of those, they resolved 104 cases, down from 133 in 2006.
Police received 2,065 reports of generally less serious “Part II” crimes, which includes traffic offenses, warrant arrests, animal offenses, curfew, disorderly conduct, fraud and criminal mischief among others. That was up from 1,759 the year before. They resolved 1,563 of those, up from 1,164.
Part III crimes, ranging from reports of disturbances and motor vehicle crashes to death investigations and suspicious activity reports, were down from 7,243, with 6,839 in 2007.
The number of citations police wrote for curfew violations increased substantially, from 30 in 2006 to 73 in 2007. Police wrote only six curfew violation citations in 2004 and 25 in 2005. Overall, police arrested 379 juveniles on 463 charges. In 2006, they arrested 259 juveniles on 333 charges. They arrested 929 adults on 1,348 charges in 2007. In 2006, they arrested 822 adults on 1,223 charges.
Police officials believe the high number of curfew citations is due to having more officers on patrol at night, Burford said.
With the sharp spike in criminal activity in 2005 and 2006, “we’re using all the tools we can to find out who’s out there (at night),” he said. That means more officers are watching and talking to those out on Sweet Home’s streets at night.
The higher number of arrests, despite lower overall call loads, “is a product of having more cops out,” Burford said.
The City Council approved the addition of a police officer for the 2007-08 school year. That officer is expected to finish academy training and be released for solo patrol in April.
The department also was able to fill and deploy officers in two other open positions in the latter part of 2007, he said. “This additional manpower has allowed us to reach historically high arrest rates and hopefully caused the bad guys to keep their heads down as we move into 2008.”
When calls for service decrease and officers have more uncommitted time, they are able to work more traffic and follow up on and clear more cases, Burford said. Sometimes all it takes to resolve a case is more time.
On the traffic side, Sweet Home officers issued 1,156 traffic citations in 2007, up from 835 in 2006. They cited a total of 983 drivers, up from 600. They issued fewer warnings, 1,280, down from 1,393. They stopped 2,263 drivers, up from 1,993.
The most citations were for violating the rules of the road, including speeding, driving while suspended, careless driving, seatbelt violations and failure to obey traffic control devices. Police issued 682 such citations, up from 466. They issued 251 citations, up from 206, for violating financial responsibility laws, like driving uninsured and failure to carry proof of insurance.
In 2007, Sweet Home reported $427,000 in property loss related to crimes, down from $521,000. Police recovered $96,000 in property, up from $83,000. They drove 160,464 miles, up from 151,782. Dispatchers fielded 17,401 calls, up from 16,286.