Crime rate rises in Suwannee County, Live Oak

Published 3:00 pm Thursday, December 26, 2019

By Jamie Wachter
jamie.wachter@gaflnews.com

LIVE OAK, Fla. — What goes down must come back up.

The crime rate in Suwannee County and the City of Live Oak increased the first six months of this year according to the semi-annual Uniform Crime Rate released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement earlier this month. That increase, 17.1% overall in the county and 47.3% in the city, followed decreases each of the past two years in the semi-annual UCR.

“I think we’re actually getting a better reporting rating than what we’ve had in the past,” Live Oak Police Chief Keith Davis said for the increase, adding that, unfortunately, crime is going to occur. “We could see there was a few more reports, a few more calls than we’ve usually been taking.

“But I think we’re getting a little better reporting rating.”

Email newsletter signup

Made with Flourish
 

In the city, crime increased almost across the board in the categories listed in the UCR, most significantly in motor vehicle thefts (up to 10 from 3) and larcenies (up from 27 to 40) as well as aggravated assaults (14 increased to 21) and burglaries (an increase from 26 to 33).

That was also the case for the county overall with aggravated assaults jumping from 58 cases in 2018 to 89 this year. Motor vehicle thefts doubled from 15 to 30, while rapes increased from six to 10. Burglaries fell by four cases and larcenies increased from 179 to 195.

“You’ve got some that went up and some that went down,” Sheriff Sam St. John said. “I wish it was better than what it was, but we do the best we can.

“The more people we have move in here and reside in Suwannee County, naturally your (crime) is going to go up too.”

With a small agency, a few additional cases can lead to a dramatic increase in the crime rate, Davis noted.

“It sounds a lot worse than it really is,” he said. 

Made with Flourish

While the crime rate increased, so did the LOPD’s clearance rate — or ability to solve cases. The city’s clearance rate was 58.7%, an increase of 10% from 2018 and more than two times higher than the state average of 25.8%.

“Our officers and detectives are working their best to solve them,” Davis said. “But if we don’t get community involvement that gives us leads, we’re not going to solve them. Part of the community-oriented policing has to establish a relationship with the community so that people share information if they see things.

“The better we can make that relationship with the community, I think we can still and we’re going to strive to continue to do better as well.”

Overall, the county’s clearance rate was 51.6% with the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office posting a 49.2% clearance rate, an increase of 7%.

“What I look at too is when we have something occur is making sure that we jump on it and get it solved,” St. John said. “We’ve done good.

“Our clearance rate went up quite a bit too, so we are getting out there and solving things that occur.”

 
 

You Might Like