Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William County residents had lower chances of being involved in a violent crime in 2005 than the year before, but Alexandria’s crime rate jumped nearly 18 percent, according to an annual report from Virginia State Police.
Populations grew in all four jurisdictions, but incidents of major crime — including murder and rape — dropped in Arlington and Fairfax. The number of reported incidents grew in Prince William and Alexandria. There were more than 9,160 incidents of violent crime reported in Arlington last year, compared with some 9,300 reports in 2004. The crime rate dropped from 4,822 per 100,000 residents in 2004 to 4,686 last year. Reports of major crime in Fairfax dropped to 33,600 in 2005 from nearly 35,000 in 2004. The county’s crime rate dropped from 3,616 per 100,000 residents in 2004 to 3,417 last year.
Prince William County reported nearly 17,000 violent crimes in 2005, compared to nearly 16,500 in 2004. Despite the rise in reports, residents saw a decrease from 2004’s crime rate of 4,879 per 100,000 residents to 4,796 last year.
Alexandria residents reported 6,800 crimes in 2005, up from more than 5,700 crimes the year before. The city’s crime rate went up from 4,273 per 100,000 residents in 2004 to 5,033 in 2005.
Arrests were up in Alexandria, Arlington and Prince William, but dropped in Fairfax from 2,199 in 2004 to 1,710 in 2005.
In Alexandria, 1,743 people were arrested for major crimes in 2005, compared to 1,347. In Arlington, 2,390 people were arrested in 2005, up from 2,331 in 2004. Prince William officers arrested 5,554 people for violent crimes in 2005, compared to 5,297 the year before.
Crime reports vary “from population size, density, degree of urbanization to what citizens actually choose to report to police and the enforcement efforts,” said Lt. Pete Fagan with Virginia State Police’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Gang and pornography task forces in Northern Virginia help to drive up citizen and police reports, Fagan said.
