Crime in Ft. Recovery, 2000 Criminal Justice Research Center July, 2002 This report describes crime patterns in Ft. Recovery, Ohio using the 2000 Ohio Incident- Based Reporting Crime System. Ft. Recovery is a small rural community in Mercer County near the Indiana border in West Central Ohio, about sixty miles north and slightly west of Dayton. It had a 2000 population of 1,273. According to the 1990 Census, 99% of Ft. Recovery s population was White; ethnically, about one percent was Hispanic. The median age in Ft. Recovery was 35.8 years. The median household income for Ft. Recovery was $26,016 in 1990, less than the Ohio ($28,706) and the national medians ($30,056) for 1990. Ninety-three percent of Fort Recovery s labor force population was employed in 1990, with signicant segments in manufacturing (37.5%) and wholesale and retail trade (21.7%). Highlights There were 58 crime incidents in Ft. Recovery in 2000, representing 60 separate offenses. The overall rate of crime was 47.1 per 1,000 residents, with rates for more serious Class A and less serious Class B offenses being 33 and 14.1 per 1,000, respectively. One of the 58 criminal incidents involved three offenses but only one victim. Seventy percent of the crimes (42 of 60) were Class A (or serious) offenses. Property crimes constituted the vast majority (88.1%) of Class A offenses. There were only 2 crimes of violence representing just 4.8% of all Class A crimes. Thirty percent of all offenses were Class B (or less serious) crimes. The majority (72.2%) of these were for passing bad checks. There were a total of 40 Class A victims. Victims were about evenly split between individuals and businesses, with individuals consitituting 45% and businesses 43% of victims. The average age of the individual Class A victims was 41 years; victims were mainly male (72.2%) and exclusively White. In most of the Class A crimes ( 90%) suspects relationships were reported as unknown. Two reports indicated that the suspect was a friend or acquaintance of the victim. Police made arrests for two of the Class A offenses (4.8%). Two arrests were also made for Class B crimes (11.1%). The two Class A arrestees were a White male and a White female; the two Class B arrestees were also a White male and a White female.
Crime Overview The 2000 OIBRS crime data for Ft. Recovery included 58 criminal incidents representing 60 separate offenses. Of these, 70% were the more serious Class A offenses while the remaining 30% were less serious Class B offenses. These gures represent an overall rate of 47.1 offenses per 1,000 residents; the rate of Class A offenses is 33 per 1,000 residents versus a rate of 14.1 for the Class B offenses. One incident in Ft. Recovery involved multiple offenses: a burglary, vandalism and a larceny. Class A Crimes The majority of this report focuses on the more serious crimes, Class A offenses. Class A offenses fall into three categories (Figure 1): (1) crimes against society (drug, gambling, pornography, prostitution, and weapons offenses); (2) violent crimes against persons (homicide, sexual assaults, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault/intimidation, and kidnapping); and (3) property crimes (burglary, larceny and other stolen property offenses, motor vehicle theft, arson, fraud, bribery, and vandalism). Three offenses fall into the category of crimes against society, accounting for 7.1% of more serious crimes. There were also 2 violent crimes, representing 4.8% of all Class A offenses. Property crimes comprised the bulk (88.1%) of all serious offenses in Ft. Recovery. There were 37 property offenses, resulting in a rate of 29 per 1,000 population. Offenses Against Society Fewer than one out of every ten Class A offenses (7.1%) was a crime against society. The three societal offenses were exclusively drug-related. Two Property Crimes (37): 88.1% Figure 1: Categories of Class A Offenses in Ft. Recovery, 2000 (42 Offenses) involved drugs/narcotics use and one involved a drug equipment violation. No gambling, prostitution, pornography, or weapons offenses were reported in Ft. Recovery for 2000. Violent Crimes Violent Crimes (2): 4.8% Figure 2: Types of Class A Property Crime in Ft. Recovery, 2000 (37 Offenses) Percent There were only two violent crimes in Ft. Recovery in 2000, one simple assault and one robbery. 50 25 0 Other larcenies (15) 40.5% Theft from motor vehicle (4) Larcenies (22) 10.8% Theft from building (2) 5.4% Theft from coin-operated device (1) 2.7% Vandalism (14) 37.8% Burglary (1) Other Property Crimes Crimes Against Society (3): 7.1% 2.7% Together these accounted for 4.8% of all Class A offenses, and reected a Class A violent crime rate of 1.6 per 1,000 city residents. Ft. Recovery police reported no murders, sexual assaults, aggravated assaults, kidnappings, or negligent manslaughters. The low level of violent crime in Ft. Recovery is well below that observed for small (under 10,000) U.S. cities (3.4 per 1,000) or rural counties (2.1 per 1,000) in 2000 as reported in the UCR. Ft. Recovery, 2000: Ohio Incident Based Reporting System 2
Property Crimes As indicated, almost nine out of 10 Class A crimes (88.1%) in Ft. Recovery during 2000 were crimes against property. Acts of larceny and vandalism dominated property crimes. Different types of larcenies (thefts from motor vehicles, thefts from buildings, a theft from a coin-operated device, and unspecied larcenies) constituted 59.4% of Class A property offenses, while vandalism accounted for 37.8% of property offenses. There was also one burglary. Property offenses are distributed as follows in Ft. Recovery (Figure 2): 22 larcenies, 14 vandalisms, and 1 burglary. Police reported no offenses of motor vehicle theft, arson, receiving stolen property, or fraud. Types of Property Loss. A variety of types of property was stolen or damaged in Ft. Recovery in 2000. Along with equipment and household items (e.g., stereos, computers, tools, etc.), unspecied miscellaneous items constituted the two largest categories of property loss (about 32% each of the total). Miscellaneous items include: unspecied store merchandise; consumables such as gas, cable service, and drugs/narcotics; weapons; and livestock and household pets. In addition, Ft. Recovery residents Percent 100 50 0 Figure 3: Types of Property Stolen and Vandalized in Ft. Recovery, 2000 Vehicles (5): 11.4% Equipment/ Household (14): 31.8% Drugs (3) Figure 4: Location of Types of Offenses in Ft. Recovery, 2000, in Percent (42 Offenses) Robbery (1) Damage to Buildings (3): 6.8% Personal valuables (5): 11.4% Public Simple Assault (1) Private Larcenies (22) Miscellaneous (14): 31.8% Vandalism (14) Societal Violent Property Money/ Exchange Medium (3): 6.8% Burglary (1) experienced the loss of: personal valuables, money and other mediums of exchange, vehicles, and damage to buildings. Figure 3 provides a visual representation of types of property loss in Ft. Recovery for 2000. 1 Value of Property Loss. The OIBRS data do not provide a systematic way of determining for certain the value of property loss due to crime. However, in the majority of cases involving property loss or damage, victims provided estimates of the value of their losses. The overall value of these estimates was $73,513. The value of these losses was distributed as follows: $71,324 in property stolen and $2,189 in vandalized property. 2 Additional Characteristics of Class A Crimes Location of Offenses. The majority of crimes (66.7%) in Ft. Recovery in 2000 occurred in public locations-public buildings, streets, etc. 3 However, the distribution varied by category of crime (Figure 4). All three drug offenses occurred in public settings, two on the street and one in a park. Ft. Recovery, 2000: Ohio Incident Based Reporting System 3
Both violent crimes occurred in public locations. The robbery occurred in a parking lot, and the simple assault in a bar. Figure 5: Types of Victims Involved in Class A Offenses in Ft. Recovery, 2000 (40 Victims) About two-thirds of the property crimes (23 of 37) occurred in public places. The most common sites for larcenies were gas stations (8 of 22) and residential settings (7 of 22). The most common sites for vandalism offenses were private residences and yards (6 of 14) and outdoor public settings (5 of 14). The sole burglary was of a private residence. Individuals (18): 45% Government and other (2): 5% Businesses (17): 42.5% Society (3): 7.5% Weapons Used in More Serious Offenses. A BB or pellet gun was used in one vandalism offense. Otherwise, no weapons were reported as being used to commit offenses in Ft. Recovery. Crime Victims There were 40 reported victims of Class A offenses in Ft. Recovery in 2000. Individuals made up the largest group (45%) of victims, followed by businesses (42.5%). One individual was the victim of three offenses (burglary, vandalism, and larceny) in one incident. There were no offenses with multiple victims, however. Class A crimes in Ft. Recovery involved the following types of victims (Figure 5): 18 individuals (45%) were victims in crimes involving vandalism, burglary, larceny, robbery, and simple assault; 17 businesses (42.5%) were victims in crimes involving vandalism and larceny; 3 offenses involved society (7.5%) as the victim of drug crimes; 1 offense involved government (2.5%) as the victim of vandalism; and 1 other unknown entity (2.5%) was the victim of vandalism. Characteristics of Individual Victims. As noted, 18 people were victims of Class A crimes in Ft. Recovery in 2000; among these, one male was a victim of three offenses in a single incident: burglary, larceny, and vandalism. Individual victims ranged in age from 17 to 77, with the average age being 41 years. 4 All victims were White, reecting the racial distribution of the community (99% White). The majority (72.2%) of individual victims were male (13 of 18). A female was the individual victim in the single robbery offense reported in Ft. Recovery. Females were also victims of larceny and vandalism. Males were the majority of individual victims in crimes involving simple assault (100%), burglary (100%), larceny (88.9%), and vandalism (62.5%). Victim-Suspect Relationship. The vast majority of suspects were reported as unknown to the victims in Class A crimes. The victim of the one simple assault reported that the suspect was an acquaintance. One victim of vandalism reported that the suspect was a friend. 5 Arrests for Class A Crimes Police made arrests in 2 of the 42 Class A offenses (4.8%) reported in Ft. Recovery in 2000. Ft. Recovery police arrested a 33-year old White female and an 18-year old White male for drug offenses. No arrests were reported in Ft. Recovery for Class A violent or property offenses for 2000. Ft. Recovery, 2000: Ohio Incident Based Reporting System 4
Class B Crimes The 18 less serious Class B offenses accounted for 30% of all offenses in Ft. Recovery for 2000. These included (Figure 6): 13 offenses involving passing bad checks (72.2%), Passing bad checks (13): 72.2% Figure 6: Types of Class B Offenses in Ft. Recovery, 2000 (18 Offenses) 4 disorderly conduct offenses (22.2%), and an unspecied juvenile offense (5.6%). Victims of Class B Offenses. The majority of victims of Class B offenses were businesses (77.8%). Businesses were the victims of the 13 bad check offenses and one disorderly conduct offense. Society was the victim in two disorderly conduct offenses and the juvenile offense. A 21-year old White woman was the Juvenile offense (1): 5.6% victim of a Class B disorderly conduct offense and reported that the suspect was unknown to her. Arrests and Arrestees of Class B Offenses. Ft. Recovery police made Disorderly conduct (4): 22.2% arrests in 2 of the 18 Class B crimes. Police arrested a 45-year old White male for disorderly conduct and a 15-year old White female for a juvenile offense. Footnotes 1 If multiple items within the same property category were stolen in one incident (e.g., multiple pieces of jewelry), they are considered as a single property loss. 2 Property loss is likely to be underestimated because a value of one dollar was assigned if the property s value was unknown, e.g., an inventory must be conducted. Intangible items were also valued at one dollar each. Thirteen stolen and vandalized properties were valued at one dollar. 3 Public locations included buildings with public access (e.g., school, church, parking garage, government ofce), commercial locations (e.g., ofces and rental storage facilities), retail buildings (restaurants, gas stations, retail stores, malls), outside locations excluding private yards (e.g., construction sites, elds or woods, streets). Private locations were generally out of public view and included single family homes, multiple family residential dwellings, residential facilities, other residential structures, garages/sheds, and private yards. 4 Calculation of the mean age excludes one individual whose age was not reported. 5 Acquaintances included boyfriends and girlfriends, employees, friends, neighbors, ex-spouses, and other known individuals excluding family members. Ft. Recovery, 2000: Ohio Incident Based Reporting System 5