The Grand Forks Police Department can't explain it, but the number of crimes reported in the city hit a 10-year low in 2009.
In the eight main categories of crime tracked by the FBI, which range from murder to burglary to arson, crime was down 13 percent compared with 2008, according to statistics released Wednesday.
"That's heartening," Lt. Jim Remer said. "That's a good thing."
The stats show that violent crime -- murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault -- was up 1 percent, occurring at a rate of 264 incidents per 100,000 residents. But that's low compared with the national average of 454 incidents per 100,000 residents, police said.
The department received 27 reports of robberies and 36 reports of rape -- 10-year highs for both categories. Remer pointed out that two strings of holdups account for 10 of the robberies. Kyle Pederson is facing charges on six of them; Gypsy Watts was charged with four and sentenced to four years in prison.
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As for rapes, Remer said, there's no clear reason for the increase, but a new North Dakota law that allows victims to report rapes anonymously may have been a factor. He estimated the department received a handful of anonymous sexual assault reports in 2009.
Under the new law, which went into effect last summer, a victim can receive a sexual-assault exam at a hospital and evidence collected is stored until the victim decides to file a formal complaint, detective Jim Vigness said.
Also hitting a 10-year high were domestic disturbances with a total of 789. Vigness, who investigates domestic incidents among other crimes, said efforts to educate officers could have played a role in the increase.
"I think our officers are better equipped to identify these when they respond," Vigness said. "Their documentation has improved greatly."
Other stats
- Property crime reports dropped 14 percent. Auto thefts, all other types of theft and arsons were at 10-year lows. Remer speculated that the drop in stolen vehicles could be due, in part, to increased use of automatic starters, which allow people to warm up their vehicles without leaving keys inside and doors unlocked.
- The number of parking tickets issued jumped 10 percent, from 16,017 to 17,695.
- Reports of loud parties reached a 10-year low with 340. "We're not the fun police on this stuff," Remer said. "Normally, it takes a call to us before we're going to respond to something like that."
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- Aggravated assaults struck a 10-year peak in 2008 at 100, but came down to 80 in 2009, still the second highest in 10 years. Authorities have made a recent push to report domestic strangulations as aggravated assaults. In the past, such incidents might have been classified as adult abuse.
- Reports of illegal drugs (188) and citations for drug possession (95) both hit 10-year lows in 2009. Those numbers do not include cases handled by the local narcotics task force, Remer said.
- Overall, officers responded to 39,214 calls for service -- about 107 calls per day.
Ingersoll reports on crime and courts. Reach him at (701) 780-1269; (800) 477-6572, ext. 269; or send e-mail to aingersoll@gfherald.com .
