Sheriff statistics indicate decrease in Carson crime

Crime in Carson City hit its lowest point in more than a decade last month, according to Sheriff Ken Furlong.

"While February is normally one of the lowest crime incidence months of the year, this one differed from others. Both major and minor reported offenses declined significantly and crimes being resolved were up by over 57 percent," he said. "These three key crime indicators combined suggests that the community is fighting back and having success."

According to Furlong, there were 112 major crimes reports during the month of February. Major crime is defined as homicide, rape, robbery, burglary and theft.

In all just 234 crimes were reported in the month of February. The previous low for any month was 294 incidences.

Furlong said that in addition to public safety efforts, the reduction can be contributed to cooperation among the overlapping jurisdictions such as the Tri-County Gang Unit comprised of deputies from Carson City and Storey and Douglas counties.

Furlong said as a result of the gang unit, funded by a grant, juvenile crime arrests have plummeted from more than 1,000 annually in 1997 to approximately 400 in 2010.

"Our kids get it and we as adults can learn from (the unit's) cooperation," he said.

Monthly crime reports are submitted to the Nevada Department of Public Safety and are used to determine annual crime rates for communities across the country.

The National Uniform Crime Reporting statistics indicate crime peaked in Carson City in 1995 at more than 51 reports per 1,000 residents.

The latest statistics published in 2009 puts the crime rate in Carson City at just 23 reports per 1,000 residents. The rate for 2010 will not be available until June.

"This is all good news as we weather through tough economic times in the community," Furlong said. "In July 2010, the Sheriff's Office, along with all other city government offices, were forced to implement serious budget cutbacks. But the resolve of community crime prevention efforts was not affected.

"Instead of cutting back on our efforts, innovative solutions to crime prevention have been implemented. One such move was to publish Carson City warrants and the Top 10 Most Wanted list on the city website. Viewers to the website jumped from a monthly average of approximately 2,000 to over 9,000 in just one month."

Among the 212 warrants cleared from the warrant list last month, 35 people cleared their warrants after receiving a letter of notice, and 126 warrants were served and subjects arrested.

Furlong said a large part of the credit for the crime reduction goes out to the community.

"A major contributing crime prevention effort is the prompt reporting of curious or suspicious activities," he said. "Residents and business owners alike know best what is normal in their area. Reporting suspicions rapidly gets officers into the areas where the crime may be prevented.

"The drop in crime during February gives us plenty of reason to celebrate. It also gives us an new mark (crime rate) to beat. I hope that others will join me in increasing our community crime prevention efforts by banding together and stomping out crime. If it doesn't look right to you, it probably isn't; Report It."