Crime statistics are in, and Bossier Parish continues to be among safest in country
By: Nancy Cook
Updated: January 25, 2011
Not only were there no homicides in Bossier Parish in 2010, the number of violent crimes dropped 4% in Bossier Parish in 2010, from 359 in 2009, to 344 last year, according to Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. The number of residential and business burglaries also fell.
“Bossier Parish continues to be one of the safest places in the country,” said Bossier Sheriff Larry Deen. “The Bossier Sheriff Department’s top priority has been and always will be public safety. With that in mind, we enforce the law aggressively and we think that has been one of the keys to a safe parish. We are very proud of the drop in violent crimes and burglaries, which, we think is the result of a lot of hard work.”
In addition, aggravated batteries fell 2% and simple batteries plummeted a whopping 34%. Aggravated batteries fell from 15 in 2009 to 13 in 2010, while simple batteries nose-dived from 269 in 2009 to 235 last year.
“The good violent crime figures can be attributed to several factors,” Deen said. . “First, the training of our deputies is second to none. A second factor is the commitment to public safety and top-quality law enforcement of the Bossier Sheriff’s Department’s patrol division, our reserve officers and the Bossier Sheriff’s Posse.
“Another factor is the expertise of the people in our detective and narcotics divisions. A fourth factor is the quality of the people who live in Bossier Parish. When you add all of that together, you have a parish which is a great place to live and work in safety.”
Amongst property crimes, there was a drop in residential and business burglaries. Residential burglaries fell from 35 in 2009 to 32 in 2010, a fall of 3%, and business burglaries went down a whopping 82%, from 11 in 2009 to 2 in 2010.
Total crimes were up in 2010, due to a surge in thefts, from 257 in 2009 to 381 in 2010. The thefts were largely thefts of convenience—items taken out of people’s yards, like weed eaters, and things stolen out of vehicles with unlocked doors. In response, Deen has increased the number of deputies on the streets and added more Posse members on the day shifts.
“Making your property a hard target will make it much more difficult for thieves to steal from you,” Deen said. “Lock your vehicles and keep your weed eaters, A.T.V.s and other items behind locked doors if at all possible.”
The increase in thefts can also be attributed to the phenomenal population growth in the parish. Total calls for service went up 4%, from 21,522 in 2009 to 22,311 in 2010.
