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LAS CRUCES - Not only is crime within city limits down compared with previous years, more crimes are being solved by arrests, according to the Las Cruces Police Department's 2010 crime statistics report.
The encouraging data about crime in Las Cruces comes at a time when both police Chief Richard Williams and Mayor Ken Miyagishima have made public statements reassuring residents about the city's safety in the wake of two murders just outside city limits: the shooting of 57-year-old Julian Pe-a, in Mesilla Park, and the bludgeoning of 18-year-old Oñate High School football player Jerry Zamarripa, who was fatally struck in the head with a golf club.
While crime is down and solving crimes is up across the nation, the trends are more pronounced in Las Cruces. Why?
"That's kind of the million-dollar question," said Williams, who began the job just eight months ago. "When you look at crime, in and of itself, it's like weather. It moves. It fluctuates."
One fluctuation that Miyagishima is thankful hasn't been seen in Las Cruces is an influx from crime from Juárez, just an hour away and the world's most dangerous city. Drug cartel violence is projected to kill 5,000 this year in the Mexican border city, according to Alberto Ochoa, a university researcher in Juarez.
"You've got a lot of dedicated men and women in our law enforcement community doing the best they can to make sure crime is down, especially in today's economy," Miyagishima said Friday. "The way it is,
A drop in violent crime
Between 2009 and 2010, violent crime went down 11 percent in Las Cruces and 68 percent of those crimes were solved, compared with a nationwide reduction of 5 percent with 47 percent of such crimes solved. A second classification of crime - which includes assaults, credit card fraud, bad checks, vandalism, drunken driving, runaways and trespassing - went down 6 percent, with 23 percent of such crimes solved, compared with a nationwide reduction of 4 percent with only 18 percent solved. (The Doña Ana Sheriff's Office, which responds to crime outside city limits, is still compiling its 2010 statistics to provide to the Sun-News.)
Possible reasons for the trends in Las Cruces might be the nation pulling out of a recession and the department's efforts to strengthen communication with citizens and encouragement to get residents to report suspicious activity, Williams said.
Miyagishima believes citizens have an increasing trust in the Police Department - but also increased access to it.
"More people, especially kids, have cell phones, have access to their phones that are readily available," he said. "They can contact 911 or central dispatch (at any time). One of the things they ask me to do when I do my third-grade program is to teach them about 911 and the non-emergency line, so we have a generation of kids who understand that."
The reductions in crime have come without the department being fully staffed. LCPD is authorized to hire 183 officers, but only has 170 currently, who will be moving from 10-hour shifts to eight-hour shifts to get more officers on the streets at any time and decrease response time. A federal grant has allowed the hiring of eight more officers, three have been hired from other departments and a spring academy could bring the department to 191 officers by the end of the year, Williams said.
"We do a good solving crime when it happens, but we're trying to get to a level of it being more predictable, where you can actually stop crime before it occurs," Williams said.
Boosting resources
To that end, in April, LCPD is moving to a COMPSTAT system, short for computer or comparative statistics, which allows the mapping and evaluation of crime over various precincts and places the responsibility of reducing crime on area commanders.
"We are going to an area command system, where there will be geographical accountability, a commander in charge of specific areas reporting to me in COMPSTAT meetings," Williams said. "They will be accountable for crime on their command."
A three- to five-year project will also establish a facility on the East Mesa, where the city has experienced its most rapid growth, Williams said.
And there are other areas he would like to see improvement, such as burglaries, especially strings of burglaries committed by the same suspects.
"That's something very concerning to me," said Williams, who recommended "keeping a close eye out on each other: When you see suspicious circumstances, when you see that maybe something is not right - your neighbor should be at work, yet there's activity within the home - give us a call that it's ongoing at the time."
Officers have been able to apprehend several alleged burglars in the act when alert neighbors call in, he noted.
"They are the eyes and ears of the community," he said. "You should not be afraid to do those things. That's what I would like to see more of, hand-in-hand with Neighborhood Watch, not just to hold meetings but to report suspicious information."
Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462.
2010
•Total calls for service: 157,028
•Incidents requiring reports: 36,408
•Adults arrested: 4,997
•Juveniles detained: 1,414
•Car crashes: 3,856
•Homicides and negligent manslaughters: Six
Violent crimes
These include homicides, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, plus burglaries, thefts, auto thefts and arsons.
•2006: 4,435
•2007: 4,713
•2008: 4,905
•2009: 5,064
•2010: 4,750
Part II offenses in 2010, ranked by rate of occurrence
•Total: 19,029, down from 19,487 in 2009
•Missing adults: 66. Down 24 percent. 85 percent solved.
•Liquor law violations: 289. Down 15 percent. 100 percent solved.
•Drunken driving: 476. Down 12 percent. 100 percent solved.
•Assault: 3,028. Down 10 percent. 68 percent solved.
•Vandalism: 1,952. Down 10 percent. 62 percent solved.
•Weapons violations: 173. Down 9 percent. 91 percent solved.
•Stolen property: 35. Down 8 percent. 86 percent solved.
•Crimes against children: 3,251. Down 5 percent. 93 percent solved.
•Miscellaneous offenses: 5,877. Down 2 percent. 98 percent solved.
Drug offenses: 1,054. Down 2 percent. 96 percent solved.
••Public intoxication: Three. No change. 100 percent solved.
•Prostitution/vice: Three. No change. 0 percent solved.
•Gambling: Two. No change. 0 percent solved.
•Annoying phone calls: 36. Up 6 percent. 75 percent solved.
•Sex offenses: 207. Up 14 percent. 66 percent solved.
•Disturbing the peace: 310. Up 18 percent. 88 percent solved.
•Prowling or trespassing: 380. Up 18 percent. 90 percent solved.
•Runaway juveniles: 589. Up 21 percent. 89 percent solved.
•Embezzlement and fraud: 563 (up 25 percent)
•Worthless checks: 525 (up 31 percent)
•Felony checks/credit cards: 210 (up 69 percent)
