With homicides down by nearly a third, Anne Arundel County saw a small drop in overall violent crime in 2007. But property crimes, fueled largely by shoplifting and auto thefts, propelled an overall increase in serious crimes over the previous year, statistics released by the Police Department show.
Thefts increased 10 percent to 12,048. Each of the four police districts saw a bump, though the increase was more pronounced in the Northern and Western districts, where the increases were 13.8 percent and 15.5 percent, respectively. The rise in burglaries was largely rooted in the Eastern and Western districts.
Lt. Jeffrey Silverman, a Police Department spokesman, said that district commanders have already begun implementing deterrent strategies to trends spotted last year. For example, Eastern District Commander Capt. Robert Johnson, whose district stretches from Riviera Beach to Arnold, created a burglary "strike team" of detectives last fall to work with crime analysts and patrol officers. The effort was credited with a string of arrests and a dip in burglaries.
The Western and Northern districts also initiated a database to track and monitor shoplifting suspects that they say will help apprehend suspects. And in the Southern District, which saw a 28 percent increase in auto thefts, officers distributed thousands of fliers urging drivers to lock their vehicles and keep valuables out of sight.
County Executive John R. Leopold, a Republican who has pushed for tighter enforcement of "quality of life crimes" such as noise and property violations, said he was "pleased" with the drop in violent crime and the Police Department's response to the uptick in property crimes.
Violent crime dropped 2.4 percent last year, with homicides, rapes and aggravated assaults all down. Homicides dropped from 17 to 12 overall, but in the Northern District, which includes Brooklyn, Linthicum and Glen Burnie and touches the Baltimore City line, they more than doubled, from four to nine.
Though the city of Annapolis saw a record eight homicides in 2007, statistics there show an overall 13 percent drop in violent crime. Similarly, county statistics show a 10 percent reduction in violent crime in the Southern District, which borders the city. Killings in that district declined from two to one.
County Councilman Josh Cohen, a Democrat from Annapolis, said the city and county police departments deserve credit for the drops. But he said there remains room for improvement.
"Violent crime is still way too high," said Cohen, noting an increase in the presence of gangs. "Both the city and county have police vacancies, and both the city and county governments need to beef up police pay as a recruiting tool."
Police credited an increase in traffic stops -- an additional 6,000 stops over the previous year -- with helping to curb traffic accident deaths -- from 44 to 30 -- and prevent other crimes.
Homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, auto theft and arson are considered "serious" crimes, characterized as "Part One" crimes in reports to the FBI. Those incidents increased 6.8 percent last year, from 17,438 to 18,618.
justin.fenton@baltsun.com