Violent Crime Jumped in County Last Year

Sheriff's Office Cites Growth, Recession

Crime in Loudoun County increased in most major categories last year, according to preliminary statistics, and a Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokesman said population growth and the deepening recession were probably factors in the trend.

The number of violent crimes was 27.5 percent higher than in 2007. Most of that increase was due to a sharp rise in aggravated assaults, from 92 in 2007 to 137 in 2008. The number of homicides went up from one to three, the number of rapes from 51 to 53, and the number of robberies from 38 to 39.

Property crimes declined slightly. Larcenies were up, from 2,482 to 2,560, but that was offset by drops in burglaries (from 314 to 283) and auto thefts (from 236 to 167).

A total of 7,295 arrests were made in Loudoun last year, compared with 6,457 in 2007, an increase of 13 percent.

Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the sheriff's office, said that although the county's rate of population growth has slowed recently, the rapid influx of residents that occurred over a long period continues to affect the number of crimes. He also said that the economic recession might be driving some people to break the law -- perhaps even violently -- to survive financially.

"Even though the growth in the county has finally slowed . . . the county has still grown exponentially in the past several years, and with growth comes crime," Troxell said. "The way the economy is, a lot of businesses in this economy get slow, and they don't have the amount of customers they had previously. Well, law enforcement tends to get busier."

Troxell stressed, however, that it is difficult to pinpoint the causes of crime trends. He also noted that the 2008 figures released by the sheriff's office have not been certified.

The rise in violent crime was fueled in part by a rash of incidents in the Sterling area, including a shooting that wounded two teenagers Sept. 13 and a drive-by shooting four days later in which three men were injured.

"We definitely saw an increase of violent activity in Sterling, which reflects those overall numbers for the county," Troxell said.

The decline in property crimes in Loudoun bucked the trend in the Washington region through most of the year.

But Troxell said Loudoun burglaries picked up toward the end of the year and have continued at that pace this month. He also said that car break-ins, which usually die down when cold weather arrives, have persisted and become more brazen.

"In the past, the perpetrators were literally going car to car . . . to see if it was open," Troxell said. "Now they're smashing windows to get inside."