Boone County deputies warn of increased summer crimes

Boone County Sheriff’s deputies are working overtime hours now that the weather has warmed up and dried out, according to one detective.

Tom O’Sullivan told ABC 17 News Tuesday the department sees its busiest season once schools let out, families go on vacation and the weather gets nicer.

“Summertime is vacation time, people are gone from their residences for extended periods of time,” O’Sullivan said. “Burglars know this, so they use this as an opportunity to break into other peoples’ homes and commit crimes.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a nationwide crime increase of 10 percent on average during June, July and August. Violent crimes went up 13 percent and homicides increased 16 percent.

But in Boone County, those numbers have stayed relatively equal between months, according to six years of crime data reviewed by ABC 17 News.

“Most crimes of a violent nature here in Boone County involve people known to each other,” said O’Sullivan. “Fights amongst family members, fights with friends, fights with associates.”

Burglaries between May and August represented about 40 percent of the yearly burglaries in Boone County since at least 2007. Other crimes, such as vandalism and larceny, also averaged higher during summer months.

In Columbia, crime reports showed similar trends. Nonviolent and property crimes experienced bigger jumps during warm months than violent crimes, such as assaults, robberies and homicides.

O’Sullivan said those trends represent the reasons behind crime in mid-Missouri, adding that violent crime knows no season.

“We pretty much deal with the same people every day in the same places, that really doesn’t change,” he said.

May, July and October were among the months with the highest numbers of assaults in Boone County in 2012. For burglaries, the highest were July, August and October.