Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco is crediting his “intelligence-led policing” program for a nearly 26 percent crime rate drop in the county over since 2011.
Robberies, aggravated assault and car burglaries all dropped in 2013 compared to the year before, according to Uniform Crime Report data, while murder, rape and residential robbery all ticked up.
Pasco had 20 murders last year, up 82 percent from both 2011 and 2012. Rapes jumped 26 percent to 122, continuing a growing trend from 76 reported rapes in 2010.
Nocco explained in a news release that of the 20 murder cases, 17 of them were closed, and half of them were drug-related. For rapes, 72 percent of them were closed, while 34 rapes were considered domestic.
Overall, however, crime dropped more than 7 percent in Pasco since 2012, led by a 20 percent fall in car burglaries. More than 1,230 cars were broken into in 2013, down more than 36 percent from more than 1,900 in 2010.
Nocco’s intelligence-led policing includes detailed analysis of crime trends and other data in an effort to identify crime hotspots and reduce the number of victims through education and prevention. It is based on a U.S. Justice Department program introduced in 2005.
“We are still finding new ways to implement intelligence-led policing to enhance our crime-fighting ability to protect our community and families,” Nocco said, in a release. “Although statistics do not always paint the whole picture, this information is indicative that we are moving in the right direction.”
