Posted at: 10/18/2012 6:05 PM
Updated at: 10/18/2012 6:35 PM
By: Gordon Severson
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Email to a FriendNational Crime Stats Vs. Local Stats
(ABC 6 NEWS) -- New crime statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Justice shows crime went up last year.
Many categories such as violent crimes and property crimes saw increases in the double digits.
In some ways the city of Rochester and Olmsted County are right on par with the national average on crime, but in many categories they're showing the exact opposite.
Nationally, violent crimes jumped 18%, simple assaults 22%, and property crimes by 11%.
A very different story when compared to the city of Rochester where violent crimes went slightly down, and property crimes pretty much stayed the same.
Officials say the drop in violent crimes has allowed investigators to spend more time on narcotics cases and prostitution busts.
As for Olmsted County, their numbers weren't quite as positive.
"The city of Rochester actually continues to go down and the county, those areas outside of the city of Rochester, we ticked up slightly, but still the overall trend has been in a positive direction," Olmsted County Sheriff Mueller explains.
A positive note is the shrinking number of detainees in the county jail.
Since 2007, the average number of detainees each day has dropped by a few dozen.
One thing to keep in mind when analyzing these crime stats is to understand there are countless factors that can make a difference.
Anything from shifts in the population, new legislation, even the weather in a given year can make a difference.
That's why officials say it's important to monitor crime trends, but to not overreact when they go up or down in a given year.
