Police: Drug Offenses Decline in Alexandria, Though Assaults Continue Upward Trend

(Updated at 12:45 p.m.) Police calls for serious crime in Alexandria rose in 2019, though misdemeanors have generally been on the decline, according to a new report.

Data in the city’s Crime and Quality of Life report shows that overall, felony dispatches have increased by 4.2% in Alexandria. Between 2018-2019, aggravated assaults increased from 151 to 208, a 37.7% increase.

The numbers for some of the crimes — like homicide and rape — are low enough that changes are unlikely to demonstrate a trend.

The report was given to the Health and Safety Coordinating Committee on Jan. 3 but isn’t available online and, the report notes, these are not the official year-end totals.

While robberies, aggravated assault, larceny and motor vehicle theft all increased from 2018 to 2019, annual reports from earlier years show no consistent increase or decrease between years to indicate a trend.

Misdemeanors decreased over the last year by 1.4%, with drug and alcohol-related crimes seeing some of the biggest declines.

“The largest decreases were in drug/narcotic offenses with -11.1% and drinking-related incidents, which includes DUI, drunkenness, and liquor law violations, all of which were between -11.5% and -15.4% lower than 2018’s totals,” the report said.

The stats are raw, preliminary figures that represent police calls for service for specific types of incidents, not actual charges filed, a police spokesman noted.

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