New report shows that county crime has declined

The Idaho State Police has issued its 2006 Idaho Crime Statistics report, and it shows a continued decrease in crime for Elmore County.

Overall, Elmore County reported a 25.4 percent decrease in crimes and 40.5 percent decrease in arrests over the same period in 2005.

The crime/arrest statistics for Elmore County were gathered from the Elmore County Sheriff's Office and Mountain Home Police Department. The Sheriff's office had 279 reportable incidences in 2006, down from 459 from the previous year. Arrests declined from 181 in 2005 to 94 in 2006.

The report is broken into two categories: Group A includes crimes against persons, property, and society; Group B offenses are reported only when an arrest is made.

In the Group A category, vandalism was the most prevalent crime in Elmore County with 54 incidences reported, larceny, with 52 cases reported and simple assault at 51 were the most reported crimes.

Also included in the report were the number of other violations including: forcible rape (3); aggravated assault (6); burglary (29); motor vehicle theft (12); intimidation (12); counterfeiting/forgery (2); drug/narcotics (21); drug equipment (14); fraud (11); kidnapping (3); pornography (1); forcible fondling (5); statutory rape (1); stolen property (1); weapon law violation (1); disorderly Conduct (1); Driving Under the Influence (16); family offense-nonviolent (92); liquor law violation (4); trespass (1) and other non-descript offenses accounted for 22 arrests.

There were no reported incidences of murder, negligent manslaughter, robbery, arson, bribery, embezzlement, extortion/blackmail, gambling, prostitution, forcible sodomy, bad checks, curfew/vagrancy; drunkenness; runaways, incest or peeping Toms.

Seven juveniles and 87 adults were arrested in Elmore County last year. Fifty-seven cases were cleared, which means the perpetrator was either cited or arrested.

Elmore County Sheriff Rick Layher said it is hard to say why the crime rate is going down at the same time that the county's population continues to grow.

He said contributing factors may be more citizen involvement, COP (Citizens on Patrol) commitment and extra patrols by deputies.

Layher said he is trying to get his deputies to be more aggressive. Primarily, he wants deputies to work more closely with the prosecutor's office as well as revisit crime victims to provide them with periodic updates.

The patrol area of Elmore County Sheriff's Department encompasses 3,000 square miles, and is patrolled by 14 officers and deputies.

The department's patrol area runs west to east from I-84 mile markers 72.5 and 132; south down to Strike reservoir; portions of Highway 20; the Pine/Featherville area and the communities of Atlanta and Prairie.