It was safer in the Tri-Cities last year compared with 2006, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
The community's major crimes once again dropped 8 percent from the previous year, according to annual statistics released at a news conference Tuesday.
"Once again we have good news to share as far as overall crime statistics," said Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg.
The Washington State Patrol also was represented at the news conference, although the patrol doesn't report major crimes like the cities and counties do. Lt. Jay Cabezuela said a "disturbing" statistic they saw was a 13 percent increase in collisions in the Tri-Cities compared to 2006.
Injury accidents increased by 6 percent and accidents involved drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol increased by 13 percent, he said. Twelve people died on the roads in the Tri-Cities, up from nine in 2006, Cabezuela said.
The Mid-Columbia had 7,076 major crimes reported last year compared to 7,696 the previous year. And, the decrease in crime also comes at a time when population is increasing, the officials said.
The Tri-Cities, with a population of 230,300, is one of the safest communities in the state, Hohenberg said. The crime rate -- the likelihood of being victimized -- is 32.5 per 1,000 residents, he said.
That compares to an average of 48 per 1,000 residents in the state and 37 per 1,000 residents in the nation.
There were three murders last year, five fewer than 2006, which helped lower the violent crimes total by 13 percent. But there were more reports of rapes and robberies. Non-violent crimes also dropped, with the exception of auto thefts, which were up by 54 to 587.
But, the top cops say their agencies are still busier than ever dealing with weapons, drugs and gang activities. Sophisticated crimes like identity thefts are also "very labor intensive and takes a lot of resources" to investigate, Chief Hohenberg said.
Benton County Sheriff Larry Taylor said they plan to once again ask voters to support a tax to help fight crime and rehabilitate offenders. The criminal justice tax measure, which would have raised the county's sales tax by 0.2 percent, was rejected by 53 percent of the voters in November.
Taylor said they plan to make some changes with the mental health and court issues, but hope to put the measure on the general election ballot in November. He said the final plan will likely be presented to the commissioners at the end of March for approval.
"I support letting people make that decision versus having a mandated tax," the sheriff said.
Individually, each agency saw a decrease in major crimes last year, except the Pasco Police Department, which had 12 more cases.
There were no murders and 78 aggravated assaults, compared to 103 in 2006, but there were more property crimes reported, said Pasco Chief Denis Austin.
"The property crime (increase) is almost entirely auto thefts," Austin said, noting that a majority of the thefts are of vehicles left running unattended. "We had a 5 percent increase in population and a 5 percent increase in calls for service. A 1 percent increase is not a great amount, other than we're concerned about auto theft."
Franklin County Sheriff Richard Lathim said last year's 197 crimes reported is the second-lowest crime rate on record. The record was in 2000 with 196 crimes reported, he said.
"Crime in Franklin County is down 12.3 percent, which reflects how safe it is and the quality of life we have in this community," Lathim said. "We're comparing actual crimes reported from the previous year, so as population grows, it's an even more significant decrease."
Benton County's two murders last year were the Dec. 19 deaths of a Benton City mother and daughter. Benton City contracts with the sheriff's office to provide law enforcement protection, Taylor said.
Overall, Benton County saw a 17 percent decrease in major crimes.
"We're very happy with that figure, but we can never let our guard down," Taylor said. "We need to respond diligently to those incidents that do occur and ... keep our partnerships" with other agencies.
Kennewick police had the only other murder in the region last year, and 10 more rapes reported than in 2006. But violent crimes still dropped 20 percent compared to the previous year.
"In 2006, our violent crime was up," Hohenberg said. "We spent a lot of time concentrating our efforts around violent crime in the city of Kennewick."
Overall, major crimes decreased by 12 percent for the second year in a row, he said.
Richland police also saw a 12 percent decrease in major crimes, but there were three more rapes reported than the 10 in 2006, and 23 burglaries, nine more than the previous year.
"We've been very fortunate," Chief Tony Corsi said of the 1,360 total major crimes reported last year. "It's one of the lowest we've had in recent years."
West Richland police saw the largest decrease last year with 121 major crimes reported, 68 less than in 2006, Chief Layne Erdman said. But it had a 28 percent increase in juvenile arrests last year.
Erdman attributed the increase to the new middle school and because West Richland is a "growing bedroom community." They're seeing more gang activity and malicious mischief acts, but the good news is youths aren't committing major crimes, the chief said.
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