Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home police had anticipated an increase in the crime rate from 2004 to 2005, and it has materialized.
Sweet Home had the highest crime rate among Linn County’s three cities with police departments, according to the recently released FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
Overall, Sweet Home had a rate of 103.28 crimes per 1,000 residents reported for 2005. Albany had a crime rate of 71.46 crimes per 1,000 population in 2005, the lowest in Linn County. Lebanon had a rate of 82.24.
“I told the Budget Committee that, while in 2004 we were still the safest Linn County city, the gap was closing fast,” Police Chief Bob Burford said.
He said he questions the number of violent crimes reported for Sweet Home.
“I am very skeptical about the published 2005 figures as they relate to the raw violent crime numbers reported by each city,” Burford said.
“I believe our jump is primarily a matter of how we classify which acts constitute violent crimes and report them compared to how others do.”
Sweet Home reports any assault that involves a weapon or strangulation as an aggravated assault, the way the FBI wants crimes reported, Burford said, while other cities may not when it has minimal effect in the commission of the assault.
As a result, Sweet Home had 45 of what are called violent crimes in 2005 compared to 63 in Albany and 34 in Lebanon. Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and similar crimes.
“There is no way we should be that close to Albany,” Burford said.
Sweet Home had 823 property crimes compared to 3,177 in Albany and 1,126 in Lebanon. Property crimes include burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson and similar crimes.
“No matter how you look at it, I know Sweet Home got hit and hit hard last year,” Burford said. “Because of budget cuts we were not able to fill positions and lost our grip. With the passage of the recent levy, we will do what is necessary to regain the upper hand.
“I think we’ve seen an escalation going on over the last several years. We’ve been keeping up on it but losing ground slowly.
“I think ’06 is going to be another bad year from a property crimes standpoint.”
Based on day-to-day activity, Burford said, he was surprised to see violent crime numbers increase in 2005 but not property crimes.
Sweet Home’s crime rate increased from 71.2 per 1,000 population in 2003 to 84.7 per 1,000 in 2004. Lebanon’s rate decreased from 94.7 in 2003 to 89.4 between 2003 and 2004, while Albany’s rate decreased from 96.6 in 2003 to 88.5 in 2004.
In 2004, Sweet Home had 58 violent crimes, including 51 aggravated assaults, and 644 property crimes, including 459 thefts.
In 2002, Sweet Home had a rate of just 53.2 per 1,000 while Albany carried a rate of 96.6 and Lebanon, 94.7.
Salem’s rate decreased from 84.8 in 2003 to 74 per 1,000 in 2004 and then to 65.6 in 2005. Portland’s rate decreased from 85 to 83.7 and to 76.8 in 2005. Springfield’s rate decreased from 81.1 to 74 and then jumped to 90.64 in 2005. New York City’s rate decreased from 29.2 to 28 in 2004 to 26.75 in 2005.
Oregon’s rate was 49.2 overall in 2004 and decreased to 46.87 in 2005. The national rate decreased from 41.25 in 2003 to 39.8 in 2004 and to 38.99 in 2005.