Property Crimes On The Rise in Bossier Parish

Crimes against people remained virtually the same in 2011 over the past year for Bossier Parish, while property crime rose slightly, as Bossier Parish continues to see phenomenal growth. 

Calls for service to the Bossier Sheriff’s Department rose by 2% in 2011, increasing by 514 calls from 22,241 in 2010 to 22,755 calls in 2011.  

The total number of person and property crimes rose by 29 crimes over the past year, increasing from 805 in 2010 to 834 in 2011.  

“Bossier Parish grew by nearly 19,000 residents from 2000 to 2010, an incredible 19% growth over 10 years,” said Bossier Sheriff Larry Deen.  “Even with the remarkable growth of the parish, residents can be rest assured they live in one of the safest parishes in the state.  Crime rates have been low in Bossier Parish for years, and I attribute that to having the finest citizens living right here.” 

Person crimes remained basically unchained from 2010 to 2011, only increasing by one, from 370 in 2010 to 371 in 2011.    

There was one homicide worked by the Bossier Sheriff’s Department in 2011, the death of a 5-year-old girl in south Bossier Parish, while there were no homicides in the parish in 2010.  

There were no reported rape cases last year for the department, making 2011 the first year with no rapes since 1996, which was the year crime statistics for the Bossier Sheriff’s Department were broken down as they are today.  Robbery cases saw an increase by two in 2010, to four in 2011.  

Battery and assault cases saw a few changes, with simple assaults showing the biggest decrease.  The cases of aggravated battery have continued to decline over the years, down from 12 in 2010 to 10 in 2011, the lowest over the past 16 years.  Simple battery, however, increased by 12%, going from 258 in 2010 to 290 in 2011.  

Aggravated assaults increased by from 33 to 36, while simple assaults saw a decline of 49%, down from 59 in 2010 to 30 in 2011. 

As in previous years, the Bossier Sheriff’s Department clearance rates continue to run ahead of the national average.  In 2011, Bossier Sheriff’s investigators closed 100% of the cases for homicide, robbery, aggravated battery, and simple assault.  The clearance rate for all violent crimes combined was 97%.

Property crimes attributed to the largest jump in total crimes, increasing by 28 from 435 in 2010 to 463 in 2011.  The biggest increase was with business burglaries, which went from 2 in 2010 to 5 a year later.  Last year was still the second lowest business burglary rate for Bossier Parish since 1995.  Residential burglaries also increased from 30 to 45 during that time, but even with the increase, residential burglary cases for 2011 were the lower than nine of the previous 15 years.    

Although property crimes increased in 2011, they still remain low when compared to previous years.  “Much of that,” Deen says, “is attributed to the commitment of our top-quality law enforcement in our patrol division, our reserve officers and the Bossier Sheriff's Posse.” 

Programs like Neighborhood Watch and National Night Out are excellent ways to keep crime low in Bossier Parish.  When neighbors are looking out for each other, it makes it harder for crooks to commit a crime in your neighborhood.

“One way to keep property crimes low is to make your property a hard target and more difficult for thieves to steal from you,” said Deen.  “These are often crimes of opportunity, and you can decrease these types of crimes by locking your vehicles and keeping your 4-wheelers, weed eaters and other items behind locked doors if at all possible." 

Today’s crime statistics are still even lower than a decade ago when the population of Bossier Parish was below 100,000.  In 2000, there were 98,310 residents in Bossier Parish with 908 total crimes, compared to today’s population or 116,979 and 834 crimes.      

With continued growth into 2012 here in Bossier Parish, Sheriff Deen remains focused on keeping the parish one of the safest places in the country. 

"The Bossier Sheriff Department's top priority has been and always will be public safety,” said Deen.  “With that in mind, we enforce the law aggressively, and we think that has been one of the keys to a safe parish.  Our low crime rates are a testament to the quality of people here in Bossier Parish, and I’m proud to serve as your Sheriff.” 

To see a chart outlining all of the crime statistics for 2011 for the Bossier Sheriff's Department, go to www.bossiersheriff.com, and click on “Crime Statistics” under the “Public Info” tab.

(Numbers released by the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Department, 1-17-2012)