Some law enforcement, court officials and neighborhood watch members have different theories as to how this situation has come about. Some cite the passing of the Castle Bill, others point to new alternative sentencing programs being effective while others wonder if individuals being arrested are not being charged with every possible offense.
One thing is for certain, the numbers are unusual.
Magistrate Dwight Williamson told The Logan Banner he was surprised when Chief Magistrate Clerk Deanna Briggs ran the numbers for the past year in mid December and then ran them again at the end of the year.
“In 2008 in Logan County we had 750 felony arrests,” Williamson said Monday. “We had 4,722 misdemeanor arrests in 2008. Those numbers are down dramatically from the last few years.”
In fact, in 2007 there were 1,203 felony arrests in Logan County, compared to 1,286 in 2006. There were 5,457 misdemeanor arrests in 2007 compared to 5,502 misdemeanor arrests in 2006.
“Mind you, we still had 4,722 misdemeanor arrests, and that is significant,” Williamson said. “Still, even that is down slightly from past years.”
The State Auditors office reported 5,363 citations in 2008, including traffic citations, Department of Natural Resources Citations, Public Service Citations and others.
“But the bottom line is, it looks like our felony count is down considerably,” Williamson said. “On review, I thought it might be from where there may have been less multiple felony charges on single offenders, those who get charged with four or five offenses per arrest.”
Williamson said deciphering the unusual statistics is difficult.
“It certainly looks like things are getting better, but we still have the same old drug related problems which we see here in Magistrate Court every day,” he explained. “The numbers are lower, but they are still pretty high when you consider the size of our county, the total numbers of arrests and the size of other areas that have rivaling numbers, which are usually much, much bigger counties.”
Williamson said it is possible that some of the new efforts at addressing drugs and crime have been slowly paying off.
“We have new programs that are set up to address many of these issues, such as Day Report, Drug Court and Teen Court and in theory those should help us in the long run. But more rehabilitation services are needed considering the sheer number of people in our county who are addicted to drugs. If we don’t see a dramatic improvement in that we are hurting. But I have not heard as much lately about drug overdose deaths as in years past. Maybe things have leveled out to some extent. If things get better, maybe we will see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Williamson said more treatment availability is definitely needed for people who are struggling with a drug problem but have not been arrested — yet.
“There are people who are hooked but who have not been arrested or have not destroyed their lives yet,” he explained. “They come in here all the time and ask for help.”
Other nearby counties report felony arrest rates increasing:
• Mingo County’s arrests went up with 759 felony arrests and 2,080 misdemeanor arrests in 2008. In 2007, Mingo County had 583 felony arrests and 2,269 misdemeanor arrests.
• Boone County had 487 felony arrests and 2,080 misdemeanor arrests in 2008. In 2008, Boone County had 381 felony arrests and 2,099 misdemeanor arrests.
• Wyoming County had 575 felony arrests in 2008 and 1,499 misdemeanor arrests. In 2007, Wyoming County had 420 felony arrests and 1,448 misdemeanor arrests.
• Lincoln County had 304 felony arrests in 2008 and 2006 misdemeanor arrests. Lincoln County had 348 felony arrests and 1,751 misdemeanor arrests in 2007.
• Kanawha County had the most felony arrests in 2008 with 3,908 and 17,541 misdemeanor arrests. That number changed dramatically from 2006 totals of 15,266 felony arrests and 2,906 misdemeanors.
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