Mesquite Crime Rate Stays Low

By Bill McClure

Editor

Mesquite continues to be a safe community in which to live and raise a family.

That fact is verified by the Mesquite Police Department's annual report, recently released by Chief of Police Doug Law.

The accompanying table shows a comparison of Mesquite's Crime Clock compared to the National Crime Clock.

For the year, MPD recorded 201 larcenies, 26 vehicle thefts, 17 burglaries, 165 assaults, five robberies, one rape and one homicide.

But even more impressive than the low crime rate is the clearance rate of the few crimes that are committed.

The MPD had a clearance rate of 66 percent in 2003, typical of the average over the past three years.

That compares to a Nevada-wide rate of about 25 percent per year.

MPD officers responded to 8,058 calls for service in 2003, a four percent increase from the 7,784 calls in 2002.

With an average of 13.5 officers available, that amounted to 597 calls per officer.

Calls for service peaked in 1999 at 10,675, or 667 calls per officer.

The 2003 calls resulted in 196 felony arrests, 1,160 misdemeanor arrests, 146 drug arrests and 160 DUI arrests.

In addition, 224 juvenile offenders were arrested.

In 2002, there were 132 felony arrests, 805 misdemeanor arrests, 111 drug arrests and 159 DUI arrests.

The Mesquite Detention Center held 1,303 inmates for a total of 4,907 days served last year.

That was an average stay of four days per inmate with an average of 14 inmates per day at the Detention Center.

Some 122 offenders were allowed to serve their time on weekends so as not to interfere with their employment.

Animal control officers responded to 1,131 incidents in 2003, compared with 921 in 2002.

Volunteers donated 3,024 hours, assisting in shelter functions such as cleaning, feeding, adoptions and exercising animals.