jeff.waters@gaflnews.com



The crime rate in Suwannee County rose 18.9 percent in 2007, halting a downward trend that began in 2005. A total of 1,157 crimes were reported here in 2007, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s annual Uniform Crime Report, compared with 973 in 2006. The report was released Friday.

Despite the increase, the crime rate remains 9.1 percent below 2004 levels, when 1,271 offenses were reported. In 2005 and 2006, the start of a downward trend, Suwannee County reported reductions of 15.7 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively.

“Crime was down for so long that it doesn’t take much to push it up,” Sheriff Tony Cameron said Monday, noting that when dealing with relatively small totals, even a moderate increase in criminal activity may be reflected as a high-percentage jump.

Cameron noted too that depressed economic conditions fuel criminal activity.

“Anytime the economy weakens, crime increases,” he said.

The clearance rate, or percentage of crimes solved, also rose significantly here. Local authorities solved 34.4 percent of reported crimes in 2007, up from 28.3 percent in 2006. Three hundred ninety-eight cases were cleared in 2007, compared with 275 in 2006.

“As crimes increased, the number of crimes solved greatly went up,” Cameron said.

The clearance rate within the city of Live Oak was 23 percent. The sheriff’s office solved 40 percent of crimes reported within the county but outside city limits.

Crime within the city of Live Oak rose 8.4 percent over 2006, according to the FDLE report. However, the per capita rate remained higher than in the county. The rate in the county was 2,311.2 crimes per 100,000 residents for 2007. The rate in the city was 5,835.2. Suwannee County’s population at the end of 2007 was 39,608. Of those, 6,855 resided in Live Oak.

“Our make-up has changed a lot,” said Live Oak Police Chief Buddy Williams. “There are definitely things we are going to change to keep up.”

Some of those changes include making sure the public knows how and under what circumstances to contact authorities upon observing suspicious behavior.

The police department has a Citizens Police Academy and a Teen Police Academy that give officers more eyes on the street.

Williams noted that the population continues to grow but not the number of officers on the streets.

“I am not happy we have an increase in crimes,” he said.

“It’s been a tough year with the drop in the economy and the increase in crimes, but still the overall trend is down,” Cameron said, in reference to the 9.1 percent reduction since 2004.

Crimes in the FDLE index include murder, forcible sex offenses, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. The report does not include drug arrests, but the Suwannee County Drug Task Force recorded more than 300 such busts in 2007. In 2006 the force had about 267.

The crime rate rose 1.4 percent statewide in 2007, the first increase since 1991.