Pubdate: Sun, 15 Jul 2001
Source: State Journal-Register (IL)
Copyright: 2001 The State Journal-Register
Contact:  http://www.sj-r.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/425
Author: Sarah Antonacci, staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

OVERALL CRIME RATE DOWN, BUT DRUG ARRESTS ON THE RISE

When Montgomery County Sheriff Jim Vazzi was reminded that the number of 
people arrested for controlled substances in his county skyrocketed from 3 
in 1999 to 26 in 2000, he only half-joked that there were probably 26 more 
such arrests just last week.

"It's meth," he said of the highly addictive, homemade drug whose main 
ingredients are found in drugstores and farmers' fields. "We did about 
three labs last week," he said. "The arrest numbers are going up. There's 
not just one person doing the cooking, there's four or five. Then they 
teach others how to do it. So you get one group off the street and there's 
another waiting to take its place. We've got a guy in jail now, and this is 
our third time to arrest him in six months."

Montgomery County is not alone, according to the Illinois State Police, who 
released statewide crime statistics for the year 2000 this week. The annual 
report records violent crimes, property crimes, drug arrests and other 
offenses.

Crime continued to fall throughout most of Illinois last year, continuing 
the trend of the past several years.

That was true in most central Illinois counties, too. But despite the drop 
in overall crime rates, the number of drug arrests increased, very 
dramatically in some areas. And like Montgomery County, officials in many 
area counties attribute the rise to the methamphetamine plague.

"Anyone who says they don't have a meth or drug problem in their county is 
a blind person," said Schuyler County Sheriff Don Schieferdecker.

Schuyler County's crime rate as a whole dropped nearly 65 percent, but the 
county's drug arrest rate shot up 838 percent. Besides the infiltration of 
methamphetamine, Schieferdecker said, the sheriff's department put together 
a drug task force last year and made 33 arrests as a result.

Other Springfield-area counties that saw their crime rates decrease even 
though their drug arrest rates increased were: Cass, a 1.6 percent decline 
in crime but a 13.6 percent increase in the drug arrest rate; Christian, a 
1.2 percent decrease in crime and a 55.5 percent increase in the drug 
arrest rate; and Scott, with a 38.8 percent decrease in the crime rate and 
a 30.4 percent increase in the drug arrest rate.

Although the number of Montgomery County arrests for controlled substances 
jumped sharply, a corresponding drop in arrests for marijuana meant the 
overall drug arrest rate climbed by only 3.6 percent. Crime overall 
decreased by 4 percent in the county Some counties saw increases in both 
rates, such as Greene County, which saw a 51.1 percent increase in crime 
and a 1.3 percent increase in the drug arrest rate.

In the same boat were Macoupin County, with a 5.9 percent crime rate 
increase and 9.9 percent drug crime rate increase; and Menard, with 
increases of 17.9 percent overall and 20.1 percent for drugs.

Counties with decreases in both overall crime and drug crime rates were: 
Logan, 1.7 percent overall and 12.9 percent in drug crimes; and Morgan, 
22.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Sangamon County had a 2.5 percent increase in overall crime, but a 3.6 
percent decrease in the drug crime rate. Mason County saw a 12.1 percent 
increase in overall crime, but a 39.7 percent decrease in the drug crime rate.

Greene County saw the most dramatic crime rate increase in central Illinois 
- - 51.1 percent. Sheriff Michael Fry said crime decreased in rural areas of 
the county. He said the rate increase was due to more crime in some of the 
county's municipalities, such as White Hall.

The number of aggravated assault and battery cases more than doubled in 
Greene County and burglaries climbed by 40 percent, accounting for most of 
the countywide crime increase.

This year's state police report did not compare changes in crime rates 
between 1999 and 2000 for individual towns, as it has in years past. That's 
because the 2000 census numbers showed that population estimates for many 
municipalities in 1999 were significantly different than the actual numbers.

Capt. Dave Sanders, spokesman for the Illinois State Police, said the 
agency until this year used best-guess estimates for population numbers.

"This year we had hard numbers from the census, and we stuck with those 
numbers," he said. "We continued to do a comparison at the state and county 
levels because those numbers weren't as affected."

Statewide, the report shows that crime rates plunged by nearly 26 percent 
during the 1990s. Last year, Illinoisans reported just under 44 crimes per 
1,000 people; the 1990 rate was nearly 60 crimes per 1,000.

The statewide crime rate dropped 4.5 percent from 1999 to 2000.

But drug arrest rates climbed 2.9 percent in 1999 and by 9.3 percent over 
the decade.

Vazzi said he expects to see that trend continue, especially in central 
Illinois, and he said the increase can be directly attributed to meth.

"The problem has progressed just from the end of last year through this 
time this year," he said. "The counties all around us have seen trailers 
blowing up ... it's kind of scary."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager