Crime Rate Declines Considerably in Webster County

The crime rate in Webster County is down in a big way according to statistics maintained by the West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services.

From 2007 to 2011, total serious crime offenses dropped from 257 to 166. Of those crimes, violent crimes have dropped from 36 in 2007 to just 12 in 2011. Serious property crime offenses have also dropped from 79 in 2007 to 58 in 2011.

A review of these statistics show a strong connection in the drop in the crime rate with the election of the current Magistrates who took office January 1, 2009. In 2007 and 2008, before the current Magistrates took office, violent crimes were double what they have been in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Serious property crimes have declined by one-third since the current Magistrates took office.

Total overall serious crimes has declined since 2007, as follows: In 2007, 257 serious offenses were reported; in, 2008, 232 serious offenses were reported; in 2009, after the first full year the current Magistrates were in office, the number of total serious offenses dropped considerably to 178; in 2010, the number dropped even more to 119; and in 2011, the number jumped back up to 166, but still well below the 2007 and 2008 numbers.

The WV Division of Justice and Community Services collects the data from the counties and provides the data on their website. The website provides this explanation of the data reporting system:

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is the modernized version of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program utilized by law enforcement since 1930.  Details about every single crime occurrence are recorded in NIBRS as opposed to the summary counts available through the UCR.  WV was the sixteenth state to receive NIBRS certification by the FBI and began only accepting data in the WVIBRS format as of January 1, 1999.  WV is currently one of only a few states that are 100% represented by Incident-Based Reporting. 

NIBRS and WVIBRS collect information on every single crime incident and arrest within 22 crime categories.  Incident, offense, property, victim, offender, and arrestee data are collected in this dynamic system.  The SAC receives calendar year WVIBRS data files from the state repository collected and maintained by the WV State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Section.  Calendar year data are extracted from the WVIBRS with approximately four months lag time.

To access the full statistics for Webster County for the period 2007 to 2011, please click on this link:

http://www.djcs.wv.gov/Pages/county-details.aspx?County=webster