Interesting tidbits out of crime data

June 6th, 2008 at 12:55pm Alex Gary

As part of our crime package, we’ll have a database of reported offenses in Rockford’s ten beats from 1988 through 2005.There were lots of interesting things out of the data. Here’s a few.Crime is way down since peaking in the early 1990s. So much so that it got me wondering why the county built such a massive jail. In the future we’ll have to keep an eye on how many inmates are in it. Unless there was a large jump in crime in surrounding towns — which is possible since Loves Park, Machesney Park, Cherry Valley, Winnebago, Rockton, Roscoe and South Beloit have grown tremendously — we may have overbuilt. (Below: Winnebago County Criminal Justice Center)

Interesting numbers from within the data:*

In beat 6, which includes the Seventh St. and Broadway corridor, sex offenses grew from 30 in 1988 to 275 by 1998, the highest total for any beat in any year. Then sex offenses dropped every year after, falling to 85 by 2005. But as reported sex offenses fell, the number of deadly weapons offenses rose.

In 1998, there were 68 reported deadly weapons offenses and that grew to 90 by 2005.*

Controlled substance offenses have fallen this decade. In 1996, there were 690 of these offenses and 663 in 1999. In 2001, that had fallen to 448 and in 2005 it was all the way down to 398.

But while those reports have dropped, there has been a marked increase in cannabis cases. In 1989, there were just 65 cannabis offenses reported. The 1990s ranged from 64 in 1990 to 468 in 1998. This decade, there have been at least 402 cannabis reports each year, including 522 in 2003. In fact, in 2003 and 2005, there were more cannabis reports than controlled substance reports. Why?* Couples appear to be getting along better.

In 1994 police responded to 8,690 domestic disputes. That fell to 4,012 by 2000 and was at 5,013 in 2005.There’s a lot more to look at.

Check out the database here.

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