Police release annual crime statistics

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

The Nevada Police Department released its annual report detailing numbers of various types of incidents for the past year.

Public Safety Director Gary Herstein pointed out that in a small community like Nevada even small changes in the number of events can show significant changes on a report.

"Really, we deal with such small numbers that a change of one or two offenses can have a big effect on percentages," Herstein said. "It's a snapshot, really."

The police department received slightly more 911 calls in 2006 than in 2005, but the number of other calls went down from 40,018 to 37,146. Officers traveled fewer miles in 2006, a result of higher gasoline prices affecting how the department patrols the city.

The number of accidents was down on both city streets and private property. There were 254 crashes on city streets in 2006, down from 272 in 2005. Accidents occurring on private property went from 121 to 103 in the same period. There were no fatality accidents on the streets or private property in either year.

Five rapes were reported in 2006 versus zero in 2005. All major crimes were up slightly from 2005 with the exception of murder, which stayed at zero. Burglary went from 93 to 111, stealing from 486 to 550, auto theft from 42 to 46, assaults went from 267 to 281 and robberies went from three to four.

Herstein said since offenses tend to vary year by year, sometimes dramatically, it takes several years of data to ensure that a particular category is seeing a trend.

"You can't look at two or three years and say something is trending one way or the other because the next year the numbers may go the other way for a year or two," Herstein said.

In addition to the many incidents where police had to interact with the public in a time of crisis the department is also actively involved in many projects to help citizens avoid problems; the 55 - Alive driving program, bicycle safety and registration, vacation house checks, neighborhood watch, personal items engraving program, children's fingerprinting, home and business security advice, Safety Town, public speaking engagements about law enforcement issues, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), after hours security checks for businesses, school resource officer, career day and the Kansas City Royal Baseball Card Program.