In the wake of the release of the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) in last week’s issue, Wadesboro Police Chief Janie Schutz provided statistics on crime in the city.

The UCR only furnished crime statistics for Anson County as a whole in 2011 compared to 2010. The UCR showed that property crime was up in Anson and down slightly statewide, while violent crime was down in Anson and across North Carolina.

Most crimes in Wadesboro are down or flat, according to statistics. All statistics are from 2001 to 2011. In that time, there have been six murders, two each in 2003, 2009 and 2011. Rapes have varied from one to eight occurrences each year. Robberies appear to have returned to normal after a spike from 2008 to 2010.

Aggravated assaults have seen an overall rise since 2001. From 2001 to 2005 there were an average of 25 aggravated assaults. From 2006 to 2010 there were an average of 31.8 aggravated assaults with most of the increase since 2008. In 2011, there were 42 aggravated assaults.

Burglary is down dramatically since 2001 with an all-time low in 2011 of 62 incidents. A graph plotting each type of crime shows a steady decline since 2007. Larcenies are up dramatically since 2001 with 200 incidents in 2001 and 405 in 2011. There were ups and downs in the period covered but the latest spike started in 2009.

Motor vehicle theft is steady.

Schutz said she compared Wadesboro’s statistics with Clinton, which has approximately 3,000 more residents than Wadesboro as of the 2010 Census, and saw similar trends. She believes that the economic downturn in 2008 is responsible for a lot of the rise in property crimes.

She said crime nationwide was down or flat overall.