Dakota County's felony charges dip

The number of felony crimes charged in Dakota County continued to fall in 2010, reaching the lowest number in a decade, according to statistics released last week.

The number of adults charged with felonies inched downward by 3 percent last year, with 1,464 adults charged. In 2000, 1,325 adults were charged with felony offenses.

"Felony offenses were down by 3 percent, and that's a positive thing in a county of 400,000 people," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said. The statistics reflect the number of cases solved, not the overall number of crimes committed in the county, but law enforcement officials say crime trends appear comparable.

Murder rates remained extremely low in Dakota County, with two people charged and no unsolved homicides. Violent crime prosecutions, however, rose nearly 7 percent, from 539 to 576 offenses charged.

"While we had a slight increase in violent crime, Dakota County remains one of the safest places that you can live in the United States," Sheriff Dave Bellows said, noting that's the case even though the county butts up to two major urban counties, where there are more homicides per capita.

"We have one of the lowest homicide rates for a jurisdiction our size in the nation," Backstrom agreed in a separate interview.

"It's almost unheard of to have a county of 400,000 that averages three or four homicides a year," he said. "Obviously, one homicide is one too many, but it's very low, given the size of our community."

"Illegal drug use in Dakota County and across our state continues to be an enormous problem," said Backstrom, whose office has joined the sheriff's office and other agencies in prevention efforts.

Of 395 people charged with felony drug offenses in the county last year, 168 were involved with meth-related crimes, which surged after dropping for three years. In 2009, there were 124 people charged with meth offenses.

Still, that's far below the record high of 417 defendants charged with meth-related crimes in 2004, during the height of the meth epidemic, Backstrom said.

There were no meth labs busted in Dakota County last year, largely due to a state law enacted in 2005 to limit and track the sale of precursor drugs. Most of the meth here now is smuggled in from Mexico, authorities say.

About a third of the inmates in the county jail are there for drug crimes, and many others for property crimes committed to buy drugs or for assaults committed while high or drunk, Bellows said.

Crimes related to cocaine and prescription drugs fell, while the number of heroin crimes remained about the same, with 21 people charged.

Most types of property crime prosecutions fell, other than welfare fraud. Down were the number of charges for theft, forgery, burglary, stolen property and criminal damage to property.

In 2009, there were 36 welfare crimes prosecuted. The number more than tripled last year to 132.

Backstrom said that represents a "blip" after a backlog of cases piled up in the County Attorney's Office due to a staffing shortage of prosecutors, which now has been remedied.

The number of felony assault charges, including domestic abuse, dipped from 219 in 2009 to 203 last year. Many of the cases are based on a statute enacted in 2005 which makes it a felony to strangle or attempt to strangle during domestic violence. Last year, 61 people were charged with that crime, four more than in 2009.

Overall, felony sex-related charges, including possession of child pornography, climbed from 123 to 152. Those are the number of actual charges; some people are charged with more than one offense.

Of those sex charges, 14 adults were charged with child pornography offenses, typically using computers. Three adults were charged with using cell phones to take lewd photos of children.

There were 106 separate instances of terroristic threats charged -- seven more than in 2009. Some of those came via cell-phone texts, over computers or by other new technology, Bellows and Backstrom said.

"Technology is really driving how we do our business in law enforcement," said Bellows, who this year is expanding his electronic crimes unit.

"When you talk about the number of cases, what it really doesn't address is the number of hard drives that might be involved," Bellows said. "What we're seeing continually growing now is the memory within the technology."