Has crime dropped in Columbus, Phenix City amid coronavirus? Here’s a look at the data.
A rare benefit of the COVID-19 crisis may be its impact on burglars: They’re not doing much business now, either.
Other lawbreakers also seem to have hit a dry spell, area law enforcement leaders say, because crime is down overall, both here in Columbus and across the river in Russell County.
“Our call volume is down tremendously,” said Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor. “Crime in general is down.”
Checking this year’s statistics, police departments both in Columbus and Phenix City noticed in particular a drop in burglaries.
One factor in that may be the work-at-home orders many residents got weeks ago, to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus, before governors in Georgia and Alabama issued emergency declarations urging people to shelter in place.
Home burglaries usually happen during the day, said Gil Slouchick, Columbus’ assistant police chief. “You’re burglarizing people’s houses when they go to work,” he said.
So the coronavirus has been a major deterrence for those thieves, he said: “Everybody’s at home.”
Comparing burglary totals for the first quarter of 2019, compared to this year, shows they dropped by almost half.
Crime numbers for January-March of 2019 in comparison to 2020 reveal robberies decreased almost as much as burglaries, by 45%. Business shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 emergency likely played a role in that, Slouchick said: “If a store’s closed, you can’t rob it.”
The crime category of larceny, which includes petty thefts such as shoplifting, saw a decline as well. The first-quarter totals from 2019 and 2020 show a drop of more than 20%.
More people staying home during the day could affect that, too, the assistant chief said. A portion of those larcenies are thefts from yards and porches, including bicycles and lawn equipment. “All of that generally comes when people aren’t around,” he said.
Here are the statistics compiled by the Columbus Police Department:
- Burglary: 298 for the first quarter of 2019; 155 for 2020; a 48% drop.
- Robbery: 111 for the first quarter of 2019; 61 for 2020; a 45% drop.
- Larceny: 1,351 for January-March 2019; 1,052 for 2020; down 22%.
- Auto theft: 207 for January-March 2019; 151 for 2020; down 27%.
But as thefts dropped, Columbus’ violent crime did not falter, as illustrated by tallies for the first quarter of 2019 and 2020:
- Murder: seven in 2019; 10 in 2020.
- Rape: 11 in 2019; 16 in 2020.
- Aggravated assault: 86 in 2019; 92 in 2020.
All of these offenses combined are what police call Part I crimes, those tracked annually by the local, state and federal governments, to measure statistics over time.
Comparing all Part I crimes for January-March of 2019 versus the first part of 2020 shows a decrease of 26%, from 2,071 to 1,537.
Another way to measure crime is by the number of inmates booked daily into the Muscogee County Jail, where records show that for the month of March, the number of suspects daily coming in declined, as the coronavirus crisis intensified.
The jail averaged 34 incoming inmates a day the first week of March, and hit a peak of 60 on March 15.
The last week of the month, the daily average was 17. The lowest dip was on March 29, when only 12 inmates came in, the same day seven were released.
Phenix City
Phenix City police also noticed a decline in Part I crimes.
The city had 714 in the first three months of 2019 compared to 649 this year, a 9% drop, said Capt. George Staudinger.
Also the number of calls for police service fell, from 9,369 for the first quarter of 2019 to 8,247 for that period this year, a falloff of 12%, Staudinger said.
Looking at March alone, when this year emergency measures to fight the virus outbreak increased, Phenix City police calls went from 3,398 in 2019 to 2,819 in 2020, a 17% drop, the captain said.
But as some thefts declined, others picked up, Staudinger said. Home burglaries dropped; automobile break-ins did not.
“It is actually the auto burglaries that are up,” he said.
Car burglars tend to be younger, often teenagers, and investigators theorize the increase may have something to do with schools closing during the virus outbreak.
“It picks up in the summertime,” Staudinger said of car burglary, and summer’s also when school is out.
He estimates auto break-ins are up 10 to 15%.
The captain said idle youth are causing another issue for police: Officers are getting more “nuisance” calls about teens congregating, playing loud music and annoying nearby residents.
The teens use online apps to arrange a meet-up, and once police disperse them from one spot, they immediately broadcast another using social media, he said.
It’s not like years ago when that information took hours to spread by word of mouth. It happens instantly now, he said.
“It’s so quick,” he added: Police will respond to one complaint, and in 20 or 30 minutes they’re called to another involving the same group.
Taylor, the Russell County sheriff, said comparing figures for March 2019 to March 2020 showed a significant drop for his office, too, in these categories.
- Calls for service: 1,000 in March 2019; 800 in March 2020; down 20%.
- Domestic abuse reports: 21 in 2019; nine in 2020; down 57%.
- Reported felony cases: 22 in 2019; six in 2020; down 73%.