Collier County’s community crime rate dropped by .5 percent in 2010 from 2009, falling to the lowest level since tracking began in 1971, Sheriff Kevin J. Rambosk announced Tuesday.
The crime rate is measured by the number of offenses being reported per 100,000 people. The 2010 crime rate for unincorporated Collier County and Everglades City was 2,016.0, according to numbers certified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. That’s a .5 percent reduction from 2009’s crime rate of 2,027.1.
There were 5,924 crimes reported in unincorporated Collier County and Everglades City in 2010. That number is down by 47, or .8 percent, from the 5,971 crimes reported in 2009.
The statistics represent the categories of homicide, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.
Sheriff Rambosk congratulated deputies and the community for holding the line against crime despite the down economy. He pledged to continue to involve the community in keeping Collier County safe.
“We want to do even better moving forward and in order to do that we need everybody’s help,” Sheriff Rambosk said. “We need our community to report unusual activity when they see it and be proactive when it comes to securing their homes and vehicles.”
Homicides, aggravated assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts all went down in 2010 when compared to 2009 numbers. Categories showing an increase were larcenies, robberies and sexual assaults.
Here are some of the ways citizens can help deputies drive down crime:
* Lock your car and keep valuables out of view
* Schedule a home or business security survey by a CCSO Crime Prevention specialist
* Report unusual activity to law enforcement
* Start or join a Neighborhood Watch program
* Mentor a child
* Be alert and aware of your surroundings
* Join one of CCSO’s Community Safety Teams to help address code enforcement and other problems at the neighborhood level
* Protect personal information like your Social Security number, computer passwords and banking information.
* When online, don’t chat with strangers or respond to their e-mails
Click here to see the Part 1 crimes numbers.
