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Property crime down in LL in ’09
7/28/2010 10:31:33 AM
By Hope Brumbach
Splash Editor
Liberty Lake's crime rate is the second lowest in the state compared to cities of similar size, and the community has the lowest rate in Spokane County, according to 2009 crime rate statistics.
The 2009 Crimes in Washington Report includes only certain offenses, including murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, arson, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.
In 2009, Liberty Lake had a crime rate of 9.4, based on the number of incidents per 1,000 residents. The state's average crime rate is 39.9, according to a report recently presented to the Liberty Lake City Council by Police Chief Brian Asmus.
Liberty Lake's rate is the second lowest in the state for cities with populations between 5,000 and 10,000.
In Spokane County, Liberty Lake is significantly lower than other cities, such as Airway Heights, which has a 26.3 crime rate, Cheney with 31.8 and Spokane with 70.6.
Compared to 2008, Liberty Lake's rate of property crime dropped by nearly 18 percent for 2009, with 65 incidents compared to 79 the year before, according to the crime statistics. Violent crime, however, increased by 50 percent, with three incidents in 2009 compared to two in 2008. Overall, crime dropped by 16 percent in 2009 compared to the year before, according to the report. Advertisement
The statistics, however, only show certain crimes, Asmus cautioned.
"Do we have a lot of rapes, robberies and murders? No," Asmus said. "But do we have a lot of identity theft and Internet fraud? Yes."
In his report to the Council on the crime statistics, Asmus also included a comparison of officer numbers for cities of similar size throughout Washington. In Liberty Lake, the department has nine commissioned officers with one civilian officer, giving the community a 1.23 officer-per-capita ratio.
Liberty Lake has the second-lowest officer-population ratio for communities of similar size.
The state average is 1.58 officers per 1,000 residents, according to the crime report.
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