Police report rape, domestic violence cases up in 2008

V iolent crime was down slightly on the Navajo Reservation last year, but rape continues to be a major problem.

And cases of domestic violence, which is not categorized as a violent crime by Navajo Nation police, almost doubled from 2007 to 2008.

In statistics provided by the Navajo Nation's Division of Public Safety, tribal police investigated 829 cases of violent crime in 2008, compared to 863 cases in 2007. That's a decrease of about 3 percent.

Still, that means a violent crime was committed, on the average, about once every 10 hours somewhere on the reservation.

The most frequent violent crime committed in 2008 was rape, with 300 reported in 2008 as compared to 328 in 2007. That's an average of six rapes per week.

Police officials said that the great majority of rapes occur within a family or among friends with most of them connected either directly or indirectly with alcohol abuse. Only a handful of cases were reported where the victim did not know the identity of her attacker.

Most of the rapes reported are not prosecuted, the records show.

By the end of 2008, only 25 of the 300 reported rape cases resulted in an arrest, although some of the cases were still under investigation at the end of the year.

Six of the cases involved juveniles.

Very few of these cases are made public.

While the police department allows the press to look at incident reports of crimes that were committed and arrests that have been made, cases involving rape or child molestation are withheld under current police policy.

Homicides were also down slightly with 16 reported during 2008, compared to 19 in 2007.

In 11 of the 16 cases last year, police made an arrest - a much higher rate than in 2007, when only four murder cases resulted in an arrest. Five of those arrested for murder in 2008 were juveniles.

Outside of rape, the biggest number of violent crime cases was for aggravated assault, which is assault with a weapon of some sort. Last year 560 cases of aggravated assault were reported, compared to 458 in 2007.

The weapon of choice in 2008 was a gun, reported in 217 assaults in 2008. In just more than half of these cases - 110 - police arrested someone. About 20 percent of those arrested were juveniles.

Knives came in second with 106 cases reported and 47 arrests.

And in a situation that proves how tricky statistics can be, prostitution cases were up 300 percent, a shocking rise until you consider that this translates into three reports in 2008 and one in 2007. None resulted in an arrest.

Police investigated 767 cases of child abuse, some of which involved molestation. A total of 194 arrests were made, six of them juveniles.

Another 157 cases of what is referred to as sex offences - other than rape - were investigated in 2008, resulting in nine arrests.

About 10 people are arrested, on the average, every day for DWI, according to the statistics.

In 2008, 3,673 persons were arrested for DWI.  This is down from the 4,083 in 2007.

Drug cases were also down, from 822 cases in 2007 to 692 in 2008. A total of 322 people were arrested on drug charges in 2008 including 159 juveniles.

Reports of domestic violence skyrocketed in 2008, almost doubling from the year before.

Police reported 6,121 cases in 2008, compared to 3,535 in 2007. About one of every three incidents ended in an arrest and this held true for both years.

Tribal police investigate hundreds of reports of illegal gambling every year but make few arrests.

In 2007, 450 cases were investigated and only one arrest was made. In 2008, the number went down to 331 cases but no one was arrested.

Police said they investigated 350 cases of curfew and loitering violations in 2008 with 106 arrests being made. Police also investigated 819 cases in 2008 of parents reporting that their children had run away.

Break-ins are still very common on the reservation with almost three reported on the average day. The total in 2008 was 1,068 with police making 66 arrests, although in some cases the person who was arrested was charged with more than one break-in. Juveniles accounted for 17 of the 66 arrested.

Theft was also a problem with 1,087 cases reported in 2008. Police said they made 151 arrests.

Arson fires destroyed a total of 84 homes and trailers in 2008, but police made only one arrest. This is up from the 67 reported in 2007, when police made 12 arrests for arson.

Seventeen cases of embezzlement were reported in 2008 with no arrests, according to the statistics.

Vandalism, which includes graffiti, was rampant in 2008 with police investigating 4,854 cases and making 251 arrests - including 55 juveniles.