Violent crime in Howard County dropped 15 percent during the first nine months this year, compared with the same period last year, but calls for police and adult arrests increased, according to statistics released by county police yesterday.
Police Chief Wayne Livesay said yesterday that he was generally pleased with the decline in violent crime, but added he could not give any reason for the drop and cautioned against viewing statistics for such a relatively short period as a trend.
"I wouldn't read anything into a nine-month basis," Livesay said.
Almost 95,400 calls for police were made in the county during the year's first three quarters - a nearly 8 percent increase over last year. About 5,100 adult arrests were made in that period, a number that also is about 8 percent higher than in last year.
Livesay said the increase in service calls could be partially attributed to this fall's sniper scare, but the reasons for the higher arrest rate were not clear.
"We need to keep an eye on that," he said.
Livesay pointed out that some sharp increases in Howard crime statistics could be a function of the county's generally low crime rate.
For example, 42 more car thefts occurred in the first nine months of this year, an increase of nearly 10 percent over the same period last year. But Howard's overall car-theft rate is relatively low when compared to its population - about a third of the state average.
"Any small change in the number of crimes results in a significant change in the percentage," Livesay said.
Police also have arrested more suspects on burglary and theft charges. Police made 127 burglary arrests in the first nine months of this year, compared with 102 the same time last year. And they charged 402 people with theft, an increase of nearly 23 percent over last year.
Significant drops occurred in several crime categories. Burglaries fell nearly 18 percent and thefts declined 3 percent through September, compared with last year, the new statistics show.
There were 333 violent crimes - classified as homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults - reported during the first three quarters of this year, compared with 391 during the same period the previous year.
Police also solved nearly 60 percent of their 24 rape cases, 37 percent of 160 robberies and 82 percent of 144 aggravated assaults, the statistics show.
Police had solved four of five homicides through September. The fatal shooting of Edwin Aytes, who was found in his apartment building in the 9600 block of White Acre Road in Oakland Mills in September, remains unsolved.
Howard County, which typically has about a half-dozen homicides a year, has had one more since these statistics were reported. Leon Antwan Swain, 26, of Washington was found dead in a secluded area in southwest Howard in October.