WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The numbers are in and according to the Warner Robins Police Department's annual crime statistics, violent crime is up.
The report wasn't all bad news, but out of 8 crimes listed in the report, 5 (larceny, arson, aggravated assault, rape, and homicide) were committed more in 2018 than in 2017 and more than the city's average for the past 5 years.
In 2018, rapes more than doubled the 5-year average for the city and there were more than two times the average number of homicides.
At a late 2018 press conference discussing 2018's 9th homicide, department spokesperson Jennifer Parson said it was a record-setting pace.
"It's the most ever for the City of Warner Robins," she said.
Overall, the report says violent crime rose about 15% from 2017 to 2018 and jumped nearly 13% over the 5-year average for violent crime rates in the city.
"Locally across other departments, statewide, and nationally, it seemed like, unfortunately, it was a trend that we got a little more violent lately," said acting Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner.
There were still some bright spots in the report. Car thefts in 2018 were down slightly compared to the previous year, and robberies and burglaries dropped significantly. That's a trend Wagner hopes to continue, in part through more deliberately visible police work.
"We're making more traffic stops, making more citizen contacts, trying to lessen that chance that somebody will take the opportunity to take advantage of somebody else," said Wagner.
As for the violent crime, he says the department will keep fighting it, but Wagner also said he thinks part of the problem is a societal one. "We need more parenting, we need more mentoring, we need the children in school," he said. "A lot of these crimes that you've seen overall, those have been youth that have been involved in this." Wagner noted that in 2018, for the first time, the FBI broadened the number of crimes it asks local departments to count in its tally of 'rapes' to also include sexual assaults. He said this shift was largely responsible for the leap in rape reports from 2018.
John Wagner also says citizens play a big role in keeping the city safe. He encouraged everyone to stay alert and pay particular attention to their surroundings when out in public.
Wagner also said the department believes one man, Daniel Franz, is responsible for three of last year's nine homicides. Wagner said Franz has been charged in one of those cases and investigators are still working to make a case against him in the other two. "We feel like we have the person we just have to find a way to make the probable cause for those cases," he said.