[1/1/04]Crime statistics in Vicksburg and Warren County are varied for 2003, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story, the community’s top two crime fighters said.

Police Chief Tommy Moffett and Sheriff Martin Pace say the situation here is better than in other communities, and the credit belongs to others in keeping things safer.

In the city, fewer homicides were reported in 2003 than in 2002. The figures also showed the number of aggravated assaults, robberies, auto thefts and rapes were also down. Those categories showing rises are other assaults and thefts. The rate of burglaries is essentially the same.

In Warren County, two homicides were reported in 2003, compared with none the previous year. The department showed six robberies compared to none for 2002. A notable increase was seen in assaults, which jumped from 98 in 2002 to 157 for the first 11 months of 2003.

The figures supplied by Vicksburg and Warren County for 2003 are for January through November because statistics for December will not be available until this month.

Pace said most of the assaults stemmed from domestic violence cases, and the number of other assaults was about steady from the year before.

Moffett said he is proud of the statistics in Vicksburg.

“We have worked very hard to get a handle on the crime situation,” Moffett said looking back on the past year and the two years he has headed the Vicksburg Police Department.

He said the increases in Vicksburg have not been as dramatic as those across the country.

“I feel the training has paid off,” Moffett said of requirements in place since he became chief. “The quality of the work and the quality of the cases is much better.”

He also said he expects improvement as the department hires more officers.

“We could use 14 or 15 new officers right now,” he said.

In the years since Fiscal Year 2000, the budget for the Vicksburg Police Department went from $6.5 million to a peak of $7.1 million in FY 2001. It then went to $5.86 million in FY 2002 and $5.83 million in FY 2003. In FY 2004, the city plans to spend $5.3 million on the department.

During the same period, the budget for the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, which includes operation of the Warren County Jail and the Warren County Youth Detention Center, went from $3.14 million in 2000, to $3.42 million in 2001, $4.03 million in 2002 and $6.5 million in 2003. The budget for FY 2004 will be $6.7 million.

Nationally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice show that violent crimes generally have been dropping for 10 years.

Between 1990 and 2000, homicides were down to fewer than 10 per 100,000 population. Other violent crimes also dropped: rape from about 2.5 per 1,000 population to fewer than 1 per 1,000 in 2002; and robbery was down from nearly 8 per 1,000 to fewer than 2 per 1,000 in 2002.