The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has released its preliminary annual statewide crime report. The statistics represent 2011 and the numbers are compared to the previous year, 2010.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement utilizes seven (7) index crimes to develop the crime statistics. Every law enforcement agency in the State reports these offenses to FDLE. Those offenses are:
Murder
Forcible Sex Offenses
Robbery
Aggravated Assault
Burglary
Larceny
Motor Vehicle Theft
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is proud to report a crime solve rate of 35.4% for 2011. This is an increase of 1.9% from 2010. The State average solve rate is 24.6% and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is 10.8% higher than the State average.
Three homicides were reported in 2011 compared to one Domestic Violence Homicide in 2010. Those three homicides have been solved and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office arrested the suspect within hours of the crime.
In 2011, nine (9) forcible sex offenses were reported to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. In 2010, 25 were reported. This represents a 64.0% decrease.
Eleven (11) robberies were reported in 2011 and thirteen (13) in 2010. This is a 15.4% decrease.
210 Aggravated Assaults were reported in 2011 compared to 148 in 2010. Aggravated Assaults increased 41.9% in 2011.
532 burglaries were reported in 2011 compare to 386 in 2010. This was an increase of 37.8%.
840 Larcenies were reported in 2011 compared to 827 in 2010. This represents a slight increase of 1.6%.
34 Motor Vehicle Thefts were reported in 2011 compared to 62 in 2010. This represents a decrease of 45.2%.
The overall increase in the seven index crimes, as a total, is 12.2%. These statistics represent only crimes reported to FDLE by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is proud that our citizens have continued to partner with the Sheriff’s Office to not only report crime but to be proactive in the solving of crimes. Additionally, your Deputy Sheriff’s have worked extremely hard this past year and their investment in their duties and their commitment to the community has had a major impact. This positive impact is evidenced by the increase in the crime solve rate.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office will continue to evaluate and utilize new technologies and procedures to make our duties more efficient, which will translate to better customer service for our citizens and visitors. Sheriff Mark Hunter and his staff continually evaluate the various divisions of the Sheriff’s Office and have had great success with placing personnel in the right positions to best utilize their talents.
