Suwannee County Sheriff Sam St. John

LIVE OAK, Fla. — Suwannee County’s crime rates decreased in the first six months of 2017 compared to 2016.

According to the Semi-Annual Uniform Crime Report released last week by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the overall crime rate in the county decreased 13.5 percent. The Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office saw a 5.7 percent decrease while the Live Oak Police Department saw a more significant decrease of 28.1 percent.

Crimes were down across the board in the different types of offenses: murder, robbery, aggravated assault, larceny and motor vehicle theft.

The biggest decrease came in aggravated assaults where there were 121 cases in 2016 to just 92 in the first half of 2017.

Larceny saw a drop from 184 cases in 2016 to 167 in 2017.

Rape crimes stayed the same with five cases in the first half of 2016 and 2017.

Burglary increased by one case to 107 in 2017.

Robberies in the county fell from 17 cases in 2016 to just four in the early part of 2017.

“We are proud of our lower crime rate,” Chief Buddy Williams said. “Our violent crimes have dropped in half.”

Williams attributes the clearance rate increase — 27.5 percent in 2016 to 39.1 percent in 2017 — to having an established investigation division and patrol division.

“I feel visibility and getting to know the public has been our biggest asset for a lower crime rate for the first half of the year,” he said.

Sheriff Sam St. John said he made it his mission to be aggressive on drugs when he was elected in 2016.

“Drugs are kind of the root of all evil,” St. John said.

He said that drug use can lead to robberies and burglaries as drug users try to get the money to pay for it.

He added that he made some changes to the investigation division and drug task force division, including adding an investigator that he believes attributed to the decrease.

St. John said he plans in December on having a traffic unit target different traffic issues within the county to help reduce the amount of fatalities.

He said there were 23 traffic fatalities in 2016 and the number had been reduced to 11 in 2017.

“My goal is to make everyone aware of how they are driving,” St. John said.

Florida’s overall crime rate dropped 2 percent compared to the first six months of 2016.