After Reno's crime rate trended downward in 2014, it jumped 12.58%, last year. Violent crimes grew from 1,147 in 2014, to 1,419 in 2015. That included an uptick in robbery, rape and assault. The number of murders did not change, staying at 15. Property crimes also increased, from 6,813 to 7,543.Â
The Reno Police Department says the Biggest Little City is growing in both population and land area. With more people moving to the region and more land being incorporated into the city, Officer Tim Broadway says crime numbers are a natural part of that growth.
"For example, Lemmon Valley, that was always Washoe County's but now it's Reno's," Broadway said. "Parts of Verdi were always Washoe County. Now it's Reno's. So, we actually have to track crimes and investigate incidents in those areas as well."
The number of crimes, per capita also went up in 2015, with 37.56 crimes per 1,000 residents. In 2014, Reno saw 33.82 crimes per 1,000 residents. One reason for that is the amount of visitors. The number of Reno's special events has risen from 179 in 2011, to 245 in 2015. While those can be good for Reno's economy and way of life, crimes tend to spike during some of them, including assaults, drugs and prostitution.
"It is challenging for the department to make sure that we keep all the events safe, like we have in the past," Broadway said. "The more special events, the few officers that we do have, it's tasking on us but we make sure that each event is safe and manned appropriately."
The percentage of solved crimes slightly increased in 2015, at 22.18%. That's above the national average of 21.7%.
"We are seeing certain increases but we're also solving a lot more crimes," Broadway said.
The City of Reno is still adjusting, after the recession caused budget cuts that impacted the police department. The number of officers is still well-below where it would like to be, and that is one reason why community outreach continues to be a focus.
"It is very important for us to be out in the community, to be completely integrated with the community, to let them know that we're out there, working with them and we can't do the job as effectively without their assistance," Broadway said.
RPD has another tool, available to the public. Residents can take an online survey about their thoughts about the police department. The goal is to get input from community members to operate more effectively and efficiently.
"We're going to compile the numbers and find out where we can do better, what we've been doing good," Broadway said. "We'll get that out to the community and to the media, and we'll work together to make sure that we're providing the best customer service that we can."
The 2015 Annual Report can be viewed and downloaded from several on-line resources including the myRPD app (http://myrpd.us/survey2016) and reno.gov.Â
