Criminal acts in Virginia vary from the mundane to the most violent of murders. The authorities collect data to try to determine which of the crimes are most prominent, so they can address the underlying cause.
A collection of data from the Commonwealth of Virginia has shown that the two most reported crimes in Tazewell, Buchanan, Giles and Bland Counties include drugs and larceny. These crimes made up over 75 percent of all reported crimes in the four-county area. Drug offenses were the most common, with larceny and simple assault falling close behind.
In the quad-county area, there were 4,102 major crimes reported to police in 2016. Of those, 1,139 were for larceny. Eight-hundred and twelve were for simple assault, and 1,179 were drug-related crimes. These make up over 75 percent of reports, but what makes up the difference?
Three other groups of crimes bring the reports up to 97 percent, with fraud, aggravated assault and property damage being the next most-common crimes. It’s interesting to see these six categories as the main criminal acts in the area. The data can help give police an idea about what to expect and about what they need to focus on educating the community about.
Of the counties involved in the data set, Bland was the one with the fewest crimes. Only 2 percent of the crimes (per the population) were committed in Bland County. Tazewell was the most unsettled county with 5.5 percent of the crimes in the state. It had 2,399 crimes among the population of 43,100 people.
No matter what you’re accused of, it’s important to defend yourself. Drug crimes can land you in hot water with the police and even lead to a slew of unrelated charges.
Source: Bluefield Daily Telegraph, “Drugs, larceny go ‘hand in hand’: Crackdown on crime in Virginia reveals downward trends,” Charlie Boothe, July 09, 2017