CRESTVIEW — As the Crestview Police Department finalizes its crime statistics report for 2014, Chief Tony Taylor cautions residents to understand the numbers behind the statistics.
“The politicization of these numbers is not right,” Taylor said. “Each number represents a victim. It’s disrespectful to the victims in my opinion to make this a political football going back and forth.”
The preliminary report indicates a decrease in crimes, including:
•30 percent violent crimes from 784 cases to 552
•12 percent decrease in total index offenses from 982 to 868
•26 percent decrease in simple assaults from 399 to 296
•21 percent decrease in domestic violence cases from 335 to 266
Noting that distribution of raw data has raised some residents’ concerns, Taylor said he took the risk of releasing the newest report before it has been fully vetted.
“This is a preliminary report,” he said. “We know there are two anomalies we are going to correct. …These numbers can be dangerous if you don't know how to read them.”
1 VS. 100 PERCENT
For example, the report states there was a 100 percent increase in homicides in Crestview between 2013 and 2014.
“That’s a frightening number,” Taylor said. “People say, ‘Is Crestview a safe place to live? Do I need to relocate my family and find another job?’ It automatically creates fear and panic…
“But if I go around to the practical side of that and I tell you we only had one homicide in 2014 and we had none in 2013, now you’re down to one instead of 100. That doesn’t evoke as much fear and panic.”
Noting there are 40,000 people in the Crestview area, the odds of being a homicide victim “ went down astronomically,” Taylor said.
Additionally, Taylor said, the homicide involved two drug dealers, one of whom killed the other.
“Your odds of being killed in Crestview just went down even further because you’re not a drug dealer. When you know the story behind that number, it relieves your tensions a lot more.”
Larceny is the biggest crime in Crestview, Taylor said, but many of the cases involve residents not securing their belongings and leaving their vehicles unlocked.
“Don't make it easy for these guys,” he said. “Don't leave your stuff laying out in open and lock your car.”
“Crestview is a very safe community to live in,” Taylor said. “We have a growing population and a decreasing indexed crime rate and a decreasing violent crime rate in Crestview, declining for two years in a row.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview police chief: ‘Numbers can be dangerous’