By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

The Salisbury Post looked at 10 counties — Cabarrus, Davidson, Davie, Iredell, Orange, Randolph, Robeson, Rowan, Stanly and Wayne — to review trends in property and violent crimes. The statistics were collected from the N.C. Department of Justice and the agencies themselves. The statistics are provided to the justice department by the agencies on an annual basis.
Each law enforcement agency provides data for violent crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery, and assault while property crimes are also collected and include burglaries or break-ins, larcenies, arson and motor vehicle thefts.

Four of the counties were chosen for their similarity in population to Rowan County, while five were chosen because of their proximity to Rowan County.
The specific areas of focus were targeted to Rowan, Cabarrus and Iredell counties for their proximity to each other.

In all of counties the overall crime rates have decreased over a five-year period, however throughout that same time frame there have been fluctuations in property and violent crime rates from year to year.

In Davidson County, which has a population of 163,770 based on available 2013 totals, the property crime rates decreased pretty significantly in five years going from 3,183.9 in 2008 to 2,212.4 in 2013. The violent crime rate saw a decline in the same five years as well.

In Davie County where the population is 41,507 and although the numbers are smaller than the other counties the violent crime rates increased from 2008 with 149.5 to 165.3 in 2013. However, property crime rates saw a decrease in five years from 2,360.9 to 2,114.
Orange County has a significantly small violent crimes rate. In a county with 139,694 people the violent crimes rate for murders in 2013 was just 0.7 — a much smaller murder rate than any other county surveyed. Orange County, with a population of 139,694 in 2013 is larger than Rowan in the same year with 138,666.

Randolph County, a mostly rural county with a slow population growth over the last couple of years, has relatively low crime rates for both property and violent crimes as compared to its nine other counterparts surveyed. The population was 142,561 as of 2013 and the agency saw a reduction in its violent crimes rate by 17.2 percent in a five-year period and in the same five years there just a 1.48 percent decrease in the property crimes rate.

In Robeson County where the population in 2013 was 134,010, just below Rowan, which had a population of 138,666 in the same year, the smaller county saw a decrease in its overall violent crimes rate by 18.3 percent and 9.19 percent in its property crimes rate from 2008 to 2013.

Stanly County, the second smallest in population (60,612) of the counties of focus had a decrease in crime rates for both property and violent offenses in five years. In 2008, the county south of Rowan had a violent crime rate of 280.7 and a property crime rate of 3,214.5. Just five years later the violent crime rate was 192.1 and the property crime rate was 2,808.2.

In Wayne County, home to the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, where the population is 125,101, there was a decrease in the property crimes rate by 22.4 percent and 19.5 percent in the violent crimes rate.

Cabarrus, Rowan and Iredell counties had the highest percentage of reduction in its violent crime rates over five years with 46.8 percent, 30.1 percent and 36 percent, respectively. The heads of these agencies say they attribute the significant changes to technology and community policing.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.