Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506050018
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON AND RON BROWN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Botetourt Sheriff Reed Kelly is a relative newcomer.
Both sheriffs have been able to keep their rates of crimes solved above the state average.
And both believe that a good rapport with the public is essential to solving crime. While the numbers can fluctuate, they say, communication with citizens must be constant.
Overton has long used the Neighborhood Watch program to fortify his department's ability to detect and solve crime. It recruits citizen volunteers from subdivisions and other small communities to spread the gospel of how to make homes safe, people less vulnerable and police more aware of what is going on.
The program covers about 90 percent of Franklin county's land area.
Botetourt's rate for solving crimes jumped more than 25 percent in the first year Kelly took office. In the two previous years, its rate was below the state average.
Under Kelly, the Sheriff's Office uses a traffic program, which concentrates on drunken drivers and speeders, to keep officers on the road and discourage would-be criminals from setting up shop.
"We keep the arteries leading to the subdivisions hot," Kelly said.
He also reorganized the department's investigation division so that a supervisor reviews all criminal cases, looking for trends. The supervisor reports to Capt. Gary Guilliams, who can order shifts in patrol patterns to concentrate on problem areas.
"We just keep on pushing," Kelly said.
Former Sheriff Norman Sprinkle said there may be another factor influencing the number of cases solved. Sprinkle said that several years ago the state started allowing agencies to report that cases are solved by means other than arrests.
That opened the door for interpretation by each agency as to what needed to be done to clear a case.
Another former sheriff, Jerry Caldwell, said the difference in the crime statistics could come through a reclassification of crimes.
For instance, criminal "incidents" are not reportable, Caldwell said. Criminal "offenses" are.
"With the numbers, you can do anything," Caldwell said.
Sprinkle noted that the year before Kelly became sheriff, the department was divided as Kelly and Caldwell, both longtime deputies, vied for the top job. He said that could account in part for the improvement when Kelly took over.
Kelly pointed out that the crime clearance rate was about the same the year before the campaign started.
"Let me put it this way," Kelly said. "The system of reporting crimes is the same as it has been for years."
Overton said despite all the hubbub about rate of crimes solved, some of the public remains unswayed.
"You can have a good year, then two bad ones," Overton said. "A lot of things are totally out of your control. And besides, if you solve 90 percent of the crimes, you're still going to hear from people in the other 10 percent."
Still, Overton and others in his office say there are several reasons for their success: The office has experienced limited employee turnover during Overton's 20-year tenure, and the county remains mostly rural, with neighbors who have known each other for years.
Franklin County Sheriff's Capt. Billy Overton, the sheriff's son, said law enforcement agencies don't always use the same methods to compile their statistics.
He said one agency might file a burglary as unsolved while another might consider the same crime a lesser offense that would never show up in the state statistics.
Rocky Mount Police Chief Butch Jenkins, whose department had a 60 percent clearance rate in 1994, agreed.
"But when you're clearing 60 percent, you're definitely doing something right," he said.
Billy Overton said reports statewide will become identical over the next few years as sheriff's offices and police departments are required to use state-approved computer software programs.
For example, he said, Franklin County solved 41 percent of felony crimes in 1994. The state average for sheriff's offices was 36 percent.
In 1978, however, when nine murders occurred in the span of four months, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office solved all of them and 76 percent of all felony crimes.
Even with those lofty figures, Sheriff Overton says citizens and sheriff's offices must keep crime statistics in perspective.
No matter what's behind the percentages, he says, the numbers do serve one very important purpose:
"I can use them to motivate my people."
by CNB