The Herald-News - News Story

Police officers in Rhea County arrested fewer people overall last year, despite the number of reported crimes keeping even with 2007 figures, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

The agency's annual Crime in Tennessee report shows that Rhea County saw about the same number of reported offenses in 2008 with 2,057, up from 2,056 in 2007. However, the number of arrests between the county's four law enforcement agencies dropped from 2,118 to 1,927 in 2008, the report stated.

Dayton Police Department cleared about 50 percent of its crimes in 2008, the highest clearance rate for Rhea County law enforcement agencies.

On the whole, the entire state of Tennessee cleared about 34 percent of reported crimes.
Dayton also saw a 3 percent drop in reported crimes from 2007 but a 6 percent drop in arrests.

Police Chief Chris Sneed said he is pleased to see 2008's overall numbers and is proud of his force.

"We're always aiming to do better, and we're proud of these numbers," he said. "I have to contribute that to the personnel we have here at the office. And the city council and the city manager have always been supportive of the Dayton Police Department."

The Rhea County Sheriff's Department, meanwhile, increased its clearance rate by six points.
It was up to about 38 percent in 2008.

Narcotics offenses spiked 27 percent in 2008 for the department.

Sheriff Mike Neal said prescription drugs are fueling the increase in drug offenses.

"The prescriptions are what are jumping that number," Neal said. "A lot of DUIs are drug-related, but they're prescriptions."

The sheriff's department saw 42 more reported offenses for the year but 137 fewer arrests.
Graysville's reported offenses dropped 34 percent in 2008, as did its number of arrests.

Police Chief Thomas Mahoney said in May he thinks the drop in crime is because of increased scrutiny with every report.

"I would hope it's been because we've been working our tails off," he said. "In the past it has been a lot of reports then and no action."

In the north end of Rhea County, the Spring City Police Department saw jumps in both reported offenses and arrests. Both increased 26 percent in 2008.

The department's clearance rate also jumped 5 percentage points to 26 percent.

Some officials in the county don't think the TBI numbers tell the whole story, though.

Sheriff Neal said his department focuses on DUIs, but the TBI numbers don't necessarily reflect that.

When a person is arrested on a DUI, the offense is not counted in the total numbers if a greater offense - like possession of narcotics - is found. Instead the report just goes in as a narcotics offense, not as a DUI, according to Jackie Vandercook with TBI.

"There's nothing accurate about it," Neal said. "DUIs are a big deal to the general public and to us too, but that's not giving an accurate account of things to the general public."

Chief Sneed said he thinks there is room for improvement in how TBI categorizes offenses, but he said he thinks the big picture is accurate.

"I realize that the TBI could probably do things a little differently, but the numbers are the numbers," he said.

Michael Reneau can be contacted at michael.reneau@rheaheraldnews.com