Snohomish County got a little safer last year.
Crime fell 1.1 percent in 2002 compared with 2001, according to statistics released recently by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. That means 257 fewer crimes were reported here.
The local numbers mirror a slight decline statewide. In 2002, 31 fewer crimes were reported in Washington state, a drop of less than 1 percent.
Violent crime saw the largest drop statewide, with a 1.7 percent decrease. But property crime in Washington increased slightly, up 0.1 percent.
The report tracks eight types of crime: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, arson, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft.
The countywide statistics include crimes reported to 16 law enforcement agencies in Snohomish County, including the Everett Police Department and Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
Law enforcement agencies say there’s no single explanation for increases and decreases in crime. It’s especially difficult to pinpoint what caused the small change last year, officers said.
“Any shift downward is always appreciated. But when you’re looking at small shifts in that total number, with as large of a population we’re dealing with, you can’t draw large conclusions,” said Everett Police Department Sgt. Boyd Bryant.
The drop in crime happened as Snohomish County grew 1.5 percent, to 612,520 people in 2002.
Six types of crime listed in the report — murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and theft — saw decreases countywide in 2002 compared with 2001, the data showed. Vehicle theft and arson rose.
Rape showed the largest decrease, down 15.4 percent last year to 291 cases reported in 2002 from 344 cases reported in 2001.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean fewer rapes occurred last year, said Darra Moore, a sexual assault nurse examiner at Providence Everett Medical Center.
The hospital’s sexual assault center serves four Snohomish County hospitals. In 2002, the center treated 522 victims of sexual assault, a slight decrease from the 546 patients seen in 2001. This year, the center has aided 173 people so far, Moore said.
“We’re still seeing at least one a day,” Moore said. “The numbers didn’t decrease; they’re just not reporting.”
Nationally, only one in 10 adult women report their rapes to law enforcement officials, medical professionals or other agencies, according to the sexual assault center. Young women are even less likely to report rape.
The reasons vary, Moore said, but some rape victims “feel that they’re living (the assault) over again each time they talk about it, and don’t want to have to go to court.”
Although rape and other crimes fell last year, arson rose 10.4 percent to 170 cases countywide in 2002, reversing a dip of 7.8 percent from the year before.
The number of vehicle thefts also continued to increase. In 2002, 4,720 vehicles were stolen, up 11.2 percent from 2001.
That’s a 35.6 percent upswing in stolen vehicles since 2000, the data showed.
Stolen vehicles played a key role in Mill Creek’s crime increase. Crime rose 25.3 percent there, from 387 cases in 2001 to 485 in 2002. The number of cars stolen in the city more than doubled last year, from 26 in 2001 to 67 in 2002.
“For people who steal cars, the apartment complexes are favored targets, and we have several of those along a highway that is easily accessible,” said Mill Creek police spokeswoman Becky Erk.
Other types of crime in the city have seen little change during the past two years, except for thefts, which also rose last year, she noted.
After an upswing in crime in 2001, Snohomish saw one of the larger drops in the county. The number of crimes reported there fell 33.5 percent, from 786 to 523.
Lake Stevens also saw a decline, with crime falling from 222 to 177 cases there. But the area’s reputation for safety can lead residents to forget basic safety rules, officers said.
“Because we have such a low crime rate here every year, our residents sometimes don’t lock doors and windows when they go to the neighbors or to the store,” said Lake Stevens administrative Sgt. Heather Coleman, who compiles the agency’s crime statistics. “We try very hard to educate people about that.”
Katherine Schiffner is a reporter for The Herald in Everett.
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