The results of the 2015 Crime in Virginia publication were recently released by the Virginia State Police.
Patrick County’s crime rate is the lowest it has ever been since the publication’s modernized reporting began over 20 years ago, Sheriff Dan Smith said in a news release Monday.
Smith said the county’s incident rate per 100,000 in populations for 2015 was 2373.98 (2.373%), compared to 2906.29 (2.906%) for 2014.
The sheriff said the crime rate has been dropping steadily since 2008, and he attributes this trend to a strong relationship between the sheriff’s office and the community, and the actions of professional, hard-working law enforcement officers in the county.”
“Every aspect of our job depends on building trust with our citizens, our deputies work hard every day to strengthen that bond, and this community is reaping the benefits of that,” Smith said.
Burglaries, larcenies, incidents of vandalism and assaults all showed reductions in 2015 compared to 2014, according to the report.
Additionally, Patrick County continued to be among the leaders in the state in arrest numbers in counties with a population of 20,000 or less. In that category, Patrick County had 606 criminal arrests, second only to Westmoreland County which tallied 610 arrests.
Smith said the high number of arrests directly correlates with the low incident rate.
“My office will continue to do all it can to improve the quality of life for all citizens and to make Patrick County an even safer place to live and raise a family in years to come,” Smith said.
