Carson City Sheriff’s Office 2022 statistics: suicides, violent crime down; transient crime, overdose deaths up
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Fri, 01/06/2023 - 5:09pm
The Sheriff’s Office review of crime data for the Calendar year 2022 highlighted significant events both early and late in the year.
Kicking off the new year in January 2022, a bank robbery was reported at the Plumas Bank on North Carson Street with the alleged suspect shooting randomly in the bank, and the year ended in December just two blocks away from the bank with a homicide following a dispute between pedestrians. In both cases, the suspects were rapidly identified and taken into custody.
While both incidents were shocking, they were not representative of the rest of the year.
For the year, the category of Crimes Against Persons, violent crime, dropped by approximately 5 percent as compared to data collected during the year of 2021. 711 crime incidents were reported throughout 2022 with the heaviest percentage of occurrences in Assaults, reaching 620 incidents. Of the 620 Assault incidents, 478 of the offenses were charged as Simple Assault, accounting for 77 percent of the Assaults total. Second to Simple Assaults, Aggravated Assault incidents were recorded at 17 percent of the total incidents. Crimes Against Persons includes the offenses of Rape, Robbery, Homicide, Human Trafficking, Kidnapping and sex offenses. For the year-end total of violent crime, reported offenses by each individual category declined or held steady in comparison to 2021 data.
The decline in Crimes Against Persons did not mirror Crimes Against Property, as the community suffered an 8 percent increase in this category. Leading the reported offenses, Vandalism to property accounted for 29 percent of the reports, and simple Larceny accounted for 27 percent. Throughout the year, the most significant increases of Property Crime were recorded in incidents of Vandalism and Fraud, together accounting for a total of 120 more incidents than in 2021. The single biggest drop in crime was Larceny offenses, which dropped from 443 in 2021 down to 383 in calendar year 2022.
Setting aside the crime data, Sheriff Furlong is most concerned with deaths reported in the community that should otherwise have been prevented. Carson City suffered 8 traffic related fatalities during the year and noted that 3 of the eight were pedestrians struck in crosswalks. On the 580 Interstate stretch reaching from the north of Carson to the south, another 3 deaths occurred during rollover accidents, 2 of which were attributed to the speed and the failure to wear seatbelts. The final two fatalities were recorded as a motorcycle speeding on North Carson Street, and an Off-Road Heavy Equipment accident in Brunswick Canyon. Noteworthy from the Patrol Division, Carson City has seen a jump in Driving Under the Influence cases from 350 incidents in 2021 to 473 in 2022. Each of these dramatically increases the probability of serious bodily injury or death during accidents. The Sheriff has directed greater traffic enforcement efforts directed at pedestrian safety and DUI’s during the upcoming year.
From the Coroner’s Office, the Sheriff was pleased to see the incidents of Suicide drop by 69 percent during 2022. However, this positive trend was overshadowed by a marked increase in Overdose deaths. Over the last three years, we have seen overdose deaths jump from 3 in 2020, to 5 in 2021 and up to 14 in 2022. Suggestive evidence points heavily toward the use of fentanyl, both known and unknown use, as strong contributing factors.
According to Sheriff Furlong, the department has adjusted many of the operational assignments to match the priorities in the community. Specialized teams such as traffic enforcement, specialized drug enforcement, and school resource officers all target specific challenges in our society. In 2021, the Board of Supervisors approved an expansion of the Mobile Outreach Safety Teams (MOST) assigned to react to crisis calls. With two full time team commitments, their calls for service have increased by 64 percent over the volume in 2021. The approach of having mental health specialist assigned to the Patrol Division has had tremendous successes with all age and socioeconomic categories, as well as providing needed internal services for traumatized employees.
The Sheriff’s Office, while very successful at attacking major crime resolutions, has witnessed a very transient criminal behavior during 2022 that attacks communities. In a review of the major offenses investigated during 2022, the department witnessed most of the incidents and offenders actually came from outside the family walls of Carson City. In many cases, this has required Detectives to concentrate their efforts in cooperation with other jurisdictions and capitalize on technology enhancements to resolve crime. The advancement of technology assistance to crime prevention is a 2023 priority.
Sheriff Furlong looks forward to the new year with high optimism. Working closely with our neighboring jurisdictions and enhancing technologies will give a tremendous boost to our efforts to maintain a strong, healthy, and safe community. For our residents and businesses to do their part, the Sheriff asks that we look out after one-another in our neighborhoods, and always talks about the prevention of fraud and unscrupulous scams. Together, we will make a difference in 2023.
