Most Types Of Crime Declined Last Year

The number of reported crimes in Loudoun County last year fell in most categories, according to data released last week by the Sheriff's Office.

The drop occurred while violent crime is rising nationwide. Reports of homicides, assaults and other violent offenses rose by nearly 4 percent in the first six months of 2006 compared with the same period the year before, according to a recent FBI report.

Loudoun had four homicides in 2006, up from three in 2005. The number of reported rapes dropped from 36 to 34, and reported aggravated assaults decreased from 87 to 86. The sharpest decline was a 38 percent drop in robberies, from 50 to 31.

Sheriff's department spokesman Kraig Troxell said that adding deputies on the streets accounted for the drop in the crime rate. The Sheriff's Office has added 28 members to its patrol division since 2004, bringing the number of deputies on patrol to 176.

"Even though we have been experiencing growth in this county and fundamental changes, we have been able to keep up with the number of crimes in part because of attempts to increase our staff," Troxell said. "The more deputies we have on the streets, the more we will be able to keep these numbers down."

But Troxell cautioned that changing demographics in the rapidly urbanizing county could lead to an increase in crime that could soon outpace the growth in the county's crime-fighting resources.

Property crime continues to be significant in Loudoun, with the number of burglaries rising from 231 in 2005 to 258 in 2006, according to the Sheriff's Office. Larcenies were down, however, dropping from 2,655 to 2,208. Auto thefts also dropped slightly, from 209 to 195.

Although the overall crime rate in Loudoun was relatively stable last year, several deadly incidents shocked the largely rural and affluent county. In August, authorities charged a Gaithersburg man with second-degree murder for allegedly running over a 50-year-old man near Dulles International Airport. Two months later, three other deaths rocked the area: A 22-year-old man shot his one-time girlfriend and a male companion, then shot himself in the parking lot of a busy Sterling Park shopping mall.

The location and timing of the strip mall shooting initially raised fears that the violence was gang-related, but investigators soon determined that there was no gang involvement.

Nonetheless, gang violence continues to worry Loudoun Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson. He said Latino gangs such as MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang have become increasingly bold in eastern Loudoun, an area that has experienced record growth in recent years and attracted large numbers of Hispanic immigrants.

"These gangs victimize and prey on their own," Simpson said. "That's who they recruit and that's who they victimize, knowing that they're probably not going to go to the authorities because of fear about their legal status."

Preventing gang violence in communities that are sometimes fearful of authorities is one of the biggest challenges facing Loudoun in the new year and beyond, Simpson said.