Summer crime holds steady

Cain Madden

Published Monday, August 17, 2009

NATCHEZ — When schools close and the temperatures rise, crime rates can follow. But the 2009 summer has nearly passed with little increase over last year, local officials said.

“July is a warm month and more people are out,” Natchez Police Chief Mike Mullins. “Whenever you have people interacting with each other you have more calls for service. More people are outside of their homes.”

For the Natchez Police burglaries during the summer months increased this year — from 98 to 127. Those number reflect every report made, including burglaries from unlocked cars.

“A lot of the larceny problems have been people leaving their cars unlocked and passers-by reaching in and taking things off the seats,” Mullins said.

Robberies decreased from 13 last summer to five this year. Aggravated assaults remained fairly steady, six last year and five this year.

Vidalia Police Chief “Tapper” Hendricks said crime would decrease during the winter months.

“In the winter months you will see burglars and thieves holding up in their homes,” he said. “Over the summer, criminals are better able to stay outside at night and case places.”

Hendricks said larceny has decreased approximately 12 percent over last year in Vidalia due to increased zone patrols.

“We have a smaller territory, and we have enough officers to cover it pretty good,” he said. “Just being out there is a big part in lowering the rate.”

Adams County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Ricky Stevens said the overall burglary rate for 2009 is close to last year’s pace. The county saw 189 burglaries in all of 2008. So far this year, they’ve had 134, but he expects them to go down now that school is starting.

“Youth who are not in school and don’t have a part-time job have a lot of time on their hands during the summer,” he said. “Unfortunately, some will get in trouble.”

Hendricks said broken homes are the main problem in causing juveniles to commit crimes.

“There are good single parents out there,” he said. “But there are also some that don’t have adequate time to watch over (their children) every day to see what is going on in their life.”

Hendricks said the instances of assaults have also decreased in Vidalia over last summer, but he attributes that drop to increase patrols

Mullins said while reported assaults have been about the same, domestic violence has been up.

“Sometimes financial issues cause problems in the household,” he said.

Stevens said the economy could have something to do with it.

“Domestic violence will go up when money becomes an issue,” he said. “As do drug and alcohol abuse.”

In Natchez, Mullins said crime numbers are comparable to last years numbers.

“Overall, (the crime) rate is pretty much flat,” he said.

Hendricks said crime in Vidalia is down this summer.

“Vidalia is a pretty safe place with a good crime rate,” he said. “But we are not going to let that get our guard down, so hopefully we can get it lower than that (for the rest of the year.”

Stevens said increased deputy presence has led to a slight drop in county crime as well.

“We have four additional deputies and are able to patrol more vigorously in high crime areas,” he said. “Plus we have the Neighborhood Watch programs, and they have helped tremendously in allowing us to make arrests.”