PDF: Ochs Center State of the Region Crime Report 2010
A recent report by the local Ochs Center shows crime is on the rise on Signal Mountain, with a 66.7 percent increase in violent and property crimes, 25 percent increase in aggravated assault, 50 percent increase in simple assault and 62.5 percent increase in drug offenses from 2003 to 2008.
“In the last several years we’ve certainly not identified any kind of trend that would cause us any concern,” Police Chief Boyd Veal said. “I think in a document like this you really have to look at a more protracted view of the numbers and you have to look at the numbers themselves and give them far more weight than any percentage of increase or decrease.”
Although Signal consistently ranked among local areas with the highest increases in certain offenses, the town’s overall incidence rates are generally some of the lowest of the 36 nearby geographic locations represented.
“When numbers are consistently very low it takes little to impact them,” Veal said. “If you go from one [incident] to two that’s a 100 percent increase, but you still only have two.”