MURDER CASES AT 10-YEAR LOW
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — In 2011, police in Prince William County investigated and solved three murder cases – the fewest number of murders in the county in 10 years.
There were six fewer murders in Prince William in 2011 than there were in 2010, according to the police department’s annual crime statistic report released today. Detectives in Prince William in 2006 investigated 16 murders, the year that saw the most murders in the county in the past 10 years.
Overall, the report shows the crime rate in the county continued its five-year decline.
The number of reported rapes in the county fell from 53 to 46 in 2011, so did the number of reported robberies from 221 to 173. The categories like burglary, larceny, aggravated assault, and vehicle theft also saw fewer reported instances in 2011.
“The crime rate in Prince William County continues to decline in 2011 at 17.5 crimes per 1,000 residents. This downward trend represents a decrease in the rate of criminal activity. The crime rate is intended to serve as a basic indicator of overall crime trends and is a commonly accepted community measure,” the police report states.
The county’s population was tallied at 409,345 residents, up 11,000 more from the previous year.
Some crimes in Prince William County, however, saw a rise in reported incidents last year.
Assaults, DUI, weapons charges, and charges for the sale and manufacture of drugs rose, the report states.
There were also 91 more reportable traffic crashes in 2011 leading to a 2.9 percent rise in the county’s overall crash rate. Of the 11 fatal crashes that took the lives of 12 people in Prince William in 2011, three involved large commercial trucks, one involved a motorcycle, and one involved a pedestrian death. There were seven fewer fatal traffic crashes in 2011 than in 2010 in Prince William, according to the report.
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