The Troy Messenger

The Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center has released its 2011 “Crime in Alabama” report, including information from local agencies.

A crime-by-county section of the report that highlights seven offenses – homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft – showed that there were 1,231 crimes in those categories for Pike County.

The Pike County Sheriff’s Department reported 37 crimes total, with four being assaults, 11 burglaries and 22 thefts, according to the ACJIC.

The newly-released report also shows that the Troy Police Department reported 1,085 crimes – one homicide, seven rapes, 30 robberies, 103 assaults, 250 burglaries, 647 thefts and 47 motor vehicle thefts.

The Brundidge Police Department came in with the lowest number of those crimes reported at 26. The department reported two assaults, two burglaries and 19 thefts.

Troy University Police reported the second highest number of crimes in the county with two assaults, nine burglaries and 72 thefts, according to the ACJIC report.

Comparing crime to the previous reported year, Brundidge, population 2,086, either stayed the same or decreased in all categories except rape, where there were none reported in 2010 and one reported in 2011. The most significant change was in the burglary category where 23 were reported in 2010 and only 2 reported in 2011.

All but one criminal activity categories reported by the ACJIC saw a decline with respect to the Pike County Sheriff’s Office. Reported robberies stayed the same at zero. Homicides, rapes, assaults, burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicle thefts decreased by at least 58 percent.

“I want to give credit to our deputies and investigators because they develop community contacts that help us solve cases and deter crime,” said Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas. “It’s constant hard work by the entire department.”

Thomas also said that the department’s clearance is about 80 percent. That means that about 80 percent of their cases are cleared by arrest or other means.

In Troy, there were 100 percent changes reported in the homicide and robbery categories with 1 homicide in 2011 as opposed to none in 2010 and 30 robberies reported in 2011 instead of the 15 in 2010. Rape, burglary and motor vehicle thefts went down and assaults and larceny increased by six and four percent for 2011.

“Along with help from the community, the Troy Police Department is working very hard to keep crime down in Troy,” said TPD Chief Jimmy Ennis. “Community help is vital in crime prevention and deterrence.”

At Troy University, police reported a decrease in rape, robbery, larceny and motor vehicle theft. Assaults increased by 100 percent, from one in 2010 to two in 2011 and burglaries were also up from eight in 2010 to nine in 2011.

The ACJIC report also breaks down offenders arrested by age.

There were no crimes in the indexed categories performed by juveniles in 2011 in Brundidge and 34 adults arrested there.

The breakdown in Troy showed 61 juveniles committing crimes in the categories analyzed with 1,002 adults committing crimes.

The report showed that the Pike County Sheriff’s Department arrested one juvenile in 2011 and 204 adults were arrested.

Nine adults were arrested by the Troy University Police Department in 2011 and no juveniles were charged with any crime.

There were 84 sworn officers protecting residents of Pike County in 2011, according to the ACJIC report.

In Brundidge, there were eight sworn male officers and one sworn female officer. Last year in Troy, there were 48 sworn male officers and one sworn female officer. At the Pike County Sheriff’s Department, there were 16 sworn male officers and no female officers. And the Troy University Police Department employed 11 sworn male officers and no sworn female officers.

“Pike County has good law enforcement across the board,” Thomas said. “Pike County is blessed to have good people that live here and care about their community.”