Carson City warm weather brings higher crime rates

Unusually warm weather in Carson City has contributed to increased crime rates for 2015.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said the warm weather has led to more people being out which has resulted in more crimes being committed.

“I can say with some credibility that there is a higher crime rate this year because we have had no winter so more people are out doing more things,” Furlong said. “We have had an (increase) in calls for service when normally we see crime reduce.”

According to the “Crime in Nevada” annual report from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, climate is a significant factor in crime rates. Typically, the summertime is when crime rates increase due to people being outside of the home more. Furlong said October and November is usually when the crime rates start to reduce until the warmer weather comes.

“February is usually our slowest time, but with no snow this year, we got good weather for people to be out and about,” Furlong said.

In January, Carson City Sheriff’s Office had 172 incidents, in February it was 118 and March was 144.

“Previously, crime had been at a great run going down,” Furlong said. “But now we are skyrocketing. We are at a third of the crime rates from last year in just the first quarter.”

The most common incidents deputies see with warmer weather is simple assault and petty theft. For February and March of this year, both offenses had the highest number of incidents of any crime, according to statistics from the Sheriff’s Office, there were 39 simple assault cases in February and 44 in March, and petty theft had 41 incidents in February and 48 in March. The next closest offense was theft from a vehicle with 10 incidents in February and 17 in March.

“Simple assault and petty theft are the two that we see in alarming rates similar to what we see in the summertime,” Furlong said.

However, with more crime happening, more people are utilizing police resources. More than 15,000 people have called dispatch in the first three months of 2015.

“Coming out of the gates, we have had a high call volume for this year already,” Furlong said.

Follow reporter Taylor Pettaway on Twitter at @TaylorNVAppeal.