Statistics tell tale of crime in Fannin County

By Lisa Gagnon

Blue Ridge–Fannin County has a new view on crime, thanks to Sheriff Dane Kirby. During Kirby’s first year in office, he instituted a policy of tracking all reports. That policy is now generating results as the department lists and categorizes various crimes and reports them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

The UCR program collects statistics submitted voluntarily by city, county, state, tribal and federal law enforcement programs on a variety of crimes. The crimes include murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. These statistics give a picture of crime in cities, counties, regions and the entire United States.

Another result of the department’s participation in the program is ease of applying for grants. “Uniform Crime Reporting is required when applying for state and federal grants,” Kirby said.

According to statistics compiled by Melanie Harris, executive administrative assistant at the sheriff’s department, in 2009, there were 2109 incident reports, compared to 616 reports from 2008.

Harris cautioned against comparing the number of reports as an indicator of the frequency of crime in the county. Kirby said his new policy of reporting all calls is different from that of the department under former Sheriff George Ensley.

Harris added that the statistics reflect reports and do not indicate whether an alleged perpetrator was actually charged with or found guilty of the crime.

In 2009, 1,206 people were booked through the detention center, according to reports.

There were 75 family violence/domestic reports and 37 arrests in 2009. There was one homicide, six rape and two robbery reports.

Seventy aggravated assaults and 39 simple assaults were reported. An aggravated assault usually involves a weapon, according to the Georgia Code.

Last year, there were 229 burglary and 202 larceny-theft reports.

Sixty-eight reports of juvenile offenses, which include truancy and disorderly conduct, were reported in 2009. Harris noted that the yearly statistics may well include reports on crimes committed by juveniles, but since no perpetrator was named, it would not be under the category of juvenile crime.

Harris stated that approximately 552 of the reports last year were considered misdemeanors, and 586 were “status” offenses. Most status offenses are felonies and reportable via the UCR Program.

In 2009, 2,546 civil processes were served. That figure was 2,497 in 2008.

In the past, under Ensley, most motor vehicle accidents in the county were handled by the Georgia State Patrol. However, this year, Kirby instituted a new policy that has deputies handling them. In 2008, the department handled only 109 accidents; in 2009, the figure was 211.

One of the reasons Kirby instituted the new policy is because there are now only six troopers in the four-county area.

“We were kind of forced to handle more of them because our Georgia State Patrol presence is not what it used to be. We’ve always worked some traffic, but not a whole lot,” Kirby said. He added that the state patrol, like most state agencies, has experienced budget cuts and furloughs.