Wagoner County Sheriff's Office Reports Drop In Crime Statistics

Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott said new statistics released by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation show about a 30 percent decrease in the total crime index in Wagoner County, which includes violent crimes throughout the area. 

The full report issued every year is put together using crime and arrest reports from police and sheriff's departments across the state. 

Those index crimes include everything from murder, to rape robbery, to arson and several other violent crimes. 

Elliott said he believes that the total crime index is down in the county because of several big changes the sheriff's office has gone through. 

Some of the main changes he points to is the restructuring of the sheriff's office, eliminating some higher up positions and using that money to put more deputies on the street, hiring more people in the jail and more investigators. 

Elliott said another big factor is using a Violent Crimes Task Force to target high crime areas. He said the task force was set up with the help from a grant through the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office. People who live in the county told News On 6 they believed those statistics can help bring more people and families into the area. 

"As someone that lives in the county it's exciting to see, I think it's important to have a safe place for our kids a safe place for us to be able to just know you are able to be taken care of," said Ashley Brown who lives in Wagoner County. 

The full 165 page report for can be found here:

 

Crime statistics for the state from 2002 to 2018 can be found here.