St. Charles crime down

Published 12:00 am Friday, February 13, 2004

By LEONARD GRAY – Managing Editor

HAHNVILLE – Once more, crime is down in St. Charles Parish, Sheriff Greg C. Champagne says. “I’m pretty proud of the department,” he said.

While the difference between 2003 and 2002 is 2.4 percent, the difference since January 1997, which started Champagne’s first calendar year in office, is 14 percent, according to the sheriff.

Champagne, though, is not totally pleased. The crime statistics could improve, if the public pays more attention to their valuables left behind in vehicles.

“Keep valuables out of your vehicles,” the sheriff said. “That is the one message I want to send to the people.”

The total number of crime incidents for 2003 in St. Charles Parish was 2,369, compared to 2,427 in 2002, according to Champagne. These fall under the seven general categories of homicide, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, theft and auto theft.

Champagne’s term had a top year of 2,777 in 1997, his first calendar year in office. Each successive year has reported a drop, except in 2000, which showed only eight more incidents than in 1999.

The final quarter of 2003 had a total of 537 incidents, compared to 557 for the same quarter of 2002

In the category of homicide, only one incident was reported in the final quarter and only three for the year. Champagne said that on the average, St. Charles Parish has three homicides per year.

Rape averages 13 per year, Champagne added, and that is the number reported for 2003, the same as well for 2002.

Assaults are down, according to the sheriff, with 750 reported for the year and 154 for the fourth quarter of 2003. This compares to 866 for the year 2002 and 200 for the fourth quarter of that year.

“Thefts, burglaries and car break-ins are still too numerous,” Champagne said. This is backed up in the figures. Robberies are up, from 26 in 2002 to 37 in 2003. In the fourth quarter, robberies went from four to six.

Likewise, burglaries went from 395 in 2002 to 435 in 2003, and in the fourth quarter from 90 to 125.

Following that line, thefts were up from 1,017 in 2002 to 1,030 in 2003, but with the fourth quarter totals actually down slightly from 232 to 230 incidents.

“Citizens can help us a great deal in this area by being vigilant for suspicious activies and individuals,” the sheriff continued. “Also, removing all valuables, including guns, cash, cell phones and portable stereo equipment out of vehicles and out of sight of the criminals take away the criminal’s temptation.”

Auto thefts, meanwhile dropped from 107 in 2002 to 101 in 2003, and in the fourth quarter went from 29 to 19 incidents. “It’s our best year for auto thefts,” Champagne said. During his first calendar year, there were 170 incidents, and has dropped every year since. “We just keep pumping on education and prevention,” Champagne added, “but we still want to do more about the property crime rate.”

He alluded to the recent string of auto burglaries in St. Rose, finally broken up with arrests. “One or two perps can really hurt you in the stats,” he said.