| 113th Year, 22nd Issue | Thursday, January 10, 2002 | Sparta, North Carolina |
The Sparta Police Department released its statistics for the year 2001 late last week, and the numbers show crime has decreased by a small margin overall.
One alarming fact is born out by the data, however: felony arrests and misdemeanor arrests at near the same level for the year. Usually misdemeanor crimes outnumber serious crimes.
"Any time you have a year that crime is down, that's good," Chief Frank Sanders said. "Our concern would be the fact that felonies are, in fact, up and we are seeing more serious crimes in our town."
The felonies reported last year included one rape, a robbery, nine burglaries, three purse snatchings, drug charges, one pocket picking, numerous forgery and fraud charges and other serious crimes.
According to data compiled by Det. Lt. Wayne Crouse, The town launched 91 investigations in 2001, down from the 101 launched in 2000. A total of 96 offenses were reported in the town.
From those reported offenses and investigations, 59 charges were filed and 53 arrests were made.
The town police handled 56 felony cases in 2001, of which 15 are still active. The year before, the town handled 50 felony cases, of which 16 were still active at the end of the year.
Misdemeanor cases were down, with 57 cases in 2001, of which 28 were active; down from 67 in 2000. Of the misdemeanors in 2000, 16 were still active at the end of that year.
The police force also handles many aspects of traffic control within the town limits, including issuing citations. The town's citation numbers for some types of charges more than doubled in 2001. Overall, 186 citations were given out by town officers, up from 109 the year prior. Speeding citations were much higher, with 68 handed out in 2001 versus 32 in 2000. Also on the increase were other traffic charges and citations, up from 33 in 2000 to 85 in 2001. Stop sign charges were up from 15 in 2000 to 33 in 2001; drivers without operators licenses were charged 31 times in 2001, up from only 10 the year prior.
The town stopped 77 vehicles and issued 119 warning citations.
Traffic arrests were up from the year before, with 73 arrests in 2001 versus only 57 in 2000.
Sanders said the reason for the increase in charges, tickets and other citiations was a concerted effort to crack down on speeders.
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