Lawrence and Douglas County are growing but the crime rate isn’t.

A look at statistics for the past two years in five major crime categories common to Lawrence shows that crime went up in 2001 only in two of those categories rape and felony theft.

A Lawrence police officer stands guard outside Super Target, 3201 Iowa. The store was evacuated in February after several people reported being overcome by pepper spray.

Crime totals went down in the categories of aggravated or armed robbery, aggravated battery and burglary to a home or nondwelling building.

Crime statistics for 2001 were just being compiled in February and Lawrence Police Chief Ron Olin said he had not had a chance to study them. But he plans to give them a good going over. They could help him build a case for an increased budget or changes in how he allocates his resources.

“What we find may have some implications on what we request in the 2003 budget,” Olin said.

A few years ago, a study of crime statistics led to the formation of the Special Investigations Unit to target drug and gang activity, Olin said. Community policing also became more of a focal point, he said.

Officer Jon Barta, the Neighborhood Watch coordinator, said he uses crime statistics of importance to a particular neighborhood. The department has two civilian crime analysts who are able to develop a study of a neighborhood’s crime problems.

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“I like to go into a Neighborhood Watch program and have them tell me what their particular problems are,” Barta said.

Although the number of rape cases reported in Lawrence in 2001 nearly doubled from the previous year, that doesn’t necessarily mean more rapes were committed than in previous years, said Sarah Russell, executive director of Douglas County Rape Victim Survivor Service.

Rape statistics will fluctuate because many women still are reluctant to report the crime, she said.

“Each case is an individual case and it depends on the woman’s willingness to report it,” Russell said.

Although the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office compiles its crime statistics in a slightly different way, its data also show decreases or little change.

Combined burglaries and robberies reported to the county were nearly identical the past two years: 71 in 2000 and 69 in 2001.

Other categories:

Theft: 128 in 2000 and 105 in 2001.

Battery: 59 in 2000 and 56 in 2001.

Driving under the influence: 254 in 2000 and 263 in 2001.

Sex offenses: 18 in 2000 and 9 in 2001.

Law enforcement agencies in Douglas County including all police, sheriff and outside agencies made a total of 5,264 jail arrests in 2001. In 2000 the total was 5,742.

Unlike Lawrence Police, the Sheriff’s Office does not have crime analysts.

“We’re limited in what we can do with these,” Sheriff Rick Trapp said of the data. “We don’t have the capability of analyzing it, and we won’t for some time.

Lawrence Police puts a detailed listing of crime statistics for the past few years online. They are broken down by months per year.