Although homicides in Howard County rose from two to four last year, the relatively low violent-crime levels declined, according to police statistics that mainly covered the first 11 months of the year. Rapes were down from 43 to 34 for the entire year, a 20 percent decline, according to police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn.
She added that although the number of homicides rose, all four cases last year involved domestic violence. Howard typically has a half-dozen or fewer homicides in a year. Deaths in traffic accidents on county roads also dropped from 22 to 13 over the entire year, while drunken-driving arrests rose from 1,494 to 1,645.
Robberies, thefts and aggravated assaults also declined, though burglaries increased 174 cases for a 13 percent increase. Police said they haven't yet tallied vehicle thefts for the year, and won't have complete 2010 numbers, including December, for several more weeks.
"These numbers represent a combined effort of law enforcement and citizens to address crime issues together," said Howard police Chief William J. McMahon in a prepared statement. County Executive Ken Ulman added 54 officers to the force over his first term, though he had said he wanted to add 100. The recession halted that plan.
According to numbers comparing the first 11 months of 2010 with the same period the previous year, robberies went from 239 to 201, a 16 percent decline, while thefts dropped 6.7 percent, from 4,946 to 4,612.
Burglaries were up 174 cases year to year, though police said that was because of a series of 179 break-ins at rental storage units that were each counted as a separate burglary. Police have made arrests in 159 of those cases, Llewellyn said.
There were also fewer aggravated assaults, but that might have been because of a change in the way they are counted. In 2010, some choking incidents previously counted as assaults were no longer classified that way, resulting in a drop from 412 incidents in the first 11 months of 2009 to 288 last year. Now reported chokings without visible marks or a witness are classified as simple assaults.