Due to a huge drop in theft, crime in St. Charles Parish fell from 2,283 reported incidents in 2006 to 2,179 in 2007, which is the lowest total in the last 12 years.
In fact, it was that decrease in theft alone, from 890 in 2006 to 777 in 2007, that accounted for the entire drop in overall crime.
In the other seven categories of crime, which consists of murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft and auto theft, most of the totals stayed the same. Murders did fall from four to two, while auto theft fell by 18.
The three other reported crimes slightly increased. Assault rose by 15 (from 767 to 782), burglary jumped by 10 (from 450 to 460), and robbery creeped up from 40 reported cases to 43. Rape also increased by one.
Theft not only made the biggest drop this year, but has continued to fall drastically since 1996. That year, the parish had 1,243 reported thefts, but that number has fallen in 10 of the last 12 years. Auto theft has also decreased substantially since 2004 when there were 166 reported cases.
That number fell to 154 in 2005 and made an even bigger drop to 122 the next year. Now, the 104 auto thefts are the second lowest amount the parish has had since 1996.
Sheriff Greg Champagne credits his office’s long-term strategy, combined with more patrols and more jail space, for the decrease in theft.
Meanwhile, burglary and robbery have started to creep up in recent years. In 2003, the parish had 37 robberies and that number fell to 32, and eventually to 24, over the course of the next two years. In 2006, robbery made a huge leap from 24 reported cases in 2005 to 40.
The burglary numbers, though much better now than they were 10 years ago, have really only started to increase since 2005. In 2004, there were only 392 reported cases in the parish, which is the lowest amount that has been reported since 1996. The next year though, that number jumped to 439, and again increased to 450 in 2006. Last year’s total of 460 is the third highest amount in the last 12 years.
Sheriff Greg Champagne said that if someone wants to commit a robbery or burglary, they are going to find a way to do it. However, his office can work to apprehend those criminals quickly, as they did by making an arrest in one of the Destrehan robberies only a week after the crime took place.
Though the numbers have gradually increased in those two categories, they are much better overall than they were in 1996. During that year, there were 17 reported rapes, 67 robberies, 906 assaults, 146 cases of auto theft and 1,243 thefts. Those numbers continued to stay high for the next four years before beginning to drop off in 2000. In fact, the only category that has remained the same throughout that period is burglary, which has averaged close to 441 cases a year since 1996.
Be the first to comment