Reports of assaults and weapons offenses are spiking in Jefferson County, according to crime statistics compiled by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The department reported 478 assaults in 2021, up from 448 in 2020.
There were 65 weapons offenses in 2021 compared to 28 the previous year, according to the report.
Assaults have been trending upward the last three years, with 349 reports in 2019 before rising by 28.4 percent in 2020.
The rise in assaults seems to be continuing this year, with 102 cases in January and February.
“I think it speaks to a larger issue as to the volatility in our world right now,” Sheriff Dave Marshak said. “I think we have uncertainty in terms of economics. I think people are stressed with not knowing what is going on in the world. I think there are a lot of factors that contribute to it. I don’t have an answer, but certainly, we are seeing an increase.”
The number of weapons offenses reported last year is closer to the average number of those kinds of offenses reported before 2020, but it is still higher than recent years. In 2019, there were 46 weapons offenses; in 2018 and 2017, there were 48 offenses reported each year; and in 2016, there were 45.
Capt. Nic Forler, who had overseen the Sheriff’s Office investigation units as a lieutenant and now oversees the law enforcement division after his March 23 promotion, said the rise in weapons offenses reported in 2021 can be attributed to deputies completing reports about someone flourishing a weapon with no direct victim, which may not have been filed in the past five years.
“Road-rage instances or property disputes where one party is holding a rifle and perhaps unsafe target practicing are the main sources for this category,” Forler said. “I think we are seeing an influx as well because people seem to be quicker to display a firearm during any sort of dispute anymore. Gone are the days of a honk and middle finger when someone cuts another off.”
Homicides
The number of homicides doubled from three in 2020 to six in 2021. There also were three homicides in 2019 after five in 2018 and seven in 2017.
Forler said the homicides reported last year included two incidents of murder-suicide; one was a body that was found dumped almost two years prior to its discovery; one was the discovery of the body of Tanya Gould, 31, of Cedar Hill after deputies shot and killed Anthony Legens, 36, of Cedar Hill during a shootout at a Cedar Hill-area home; one incident was determined to be justified when a teenage boy shot and killed a man with a bow and arrow; and one homicide was a shooting by a homeowner during an attempted burglary in the Festus area.
“For Jefferson County, given our population and proximity to St. Louis, I think our numbers represent an incredibly safe community,” Marshak said. “Especially if you consider that some of those are domestic-related murder-suicides. With the exception of one, they were all known to each other. For us to get a random killing is out of the ordinary. That is some good news.”
Sexual offenses
Reports of sexual offenses jumped up to pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels in 2021, with 151 after 94 in 2020. The Sheriff’s Office reported 123 sexual offenses in 2019, 138 in 2018, 121 in 2017 and 96 in 2016.
“The low number from 2020 might be the ‘odd’ part of it,” Forler said. “Looking at that year, you have to wonder if that number dropped because of COVID/lock-down reasons.”
The Sheriff’s Office also reported that rape cases continue to rise in the county. There were 39 reported rapes in 2021 and 35 in 2020.
The number of rapes has been increasing since 2018, when the cases jumped to 31 after there were 15 in 2017. There were 36 in 2019.
Forler said for 2021 the reported sexual offenses included 93 child sex offenses and 14 adult sex offenses.
“A lot of those were fed to us through hotline reports to children’s services,” he said. “This came from a good number of disclosures made by children who were talking with counselors (professional and school) and a lot of these were historical in nature, meaning mom’s ex-boyfriend did XYZ when I was 6 years old, types of things.”
Forler also said the Sheriff’s Office has seen more men, usually in their 20s, communicating with girls through social media to arrange sexual encounters.
“The parents would find this out and then it would be reported to the Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “I would guess there are eight to 12 cases like this, maybe more, from the past year.”
On the decline
On the other hand, the Sheriff’s Office reported fewer larcenies, burglaries and robberies last year.
In 2021, there were 1,308 larcenies, 389 burglaries and 10 robberies, after 1,457 larcenies, 533 burglaries and 16 robberies in 2020.
Those three categories have been declining since 2019 when there were 1,656 larcenies, 620 burglaries and 28 robberies.
“I would love to come up with something brilliant and slap us on the back and say good job,” Marshak said about the declining numbers in those categories. “For us, there are so many factors that contribute to crime that I don’t want to speculate on what that looks like. I can say for us, we try to hire good people. We continue to invest in our people with training and technology to solve crimes.”
Marshak said one tool that has helped curb crimes is the use of license plate readers, which alert the Sheriff’s Office when a stolen vehicle or vehicle connected to a crime enters Jefferson County.
He cited 17 incidents from March 2021 through Jan. 25 when the readers, called Flock cameras, alerted deputies to suspicious vehicles entering the county that led to an arrest, the recovery of stolen vehicles or property or the identification of suspects or persons of interest in a crime.
“We continue to yield benefits from our investments in technology as we fight crime,” Marshak said. “From license plate readers to our computer crimes section legally gaining access to data from various computer sources, they all play a role in our success.”
Marshak also praised the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and judges in reining in criminal activity.
“Our overall low crime level, in part, can be attributed to the cooperative approach we have with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and their willingness to charge lower-level offenders,” he said. “On the back end, we have some judges who like to work and hold offenders accountable. Many things contribute to crime and alternatively, many things we do keep crime at lower levels than other jurisdictions in our region.”
Prosecuting Attorney Trisha Stefanski said she agreed that her office’s relationship with area law enforcement agencies plays a key role in making the county safer.
“We have a great cooperation and communication with law enforcement,” Stefanski said. “I go and speak at their post-accreditation classes at the academy four times a year. We have quarterly meetings that the sheriff holds with the chiefs throughout the county to make sure everyone is on the same page. We can’t do our job without them.”