WSIU: Rural crime down in Oklahoma; some cite meth law (2008-06-23)

State law enforcement officials say crime in rural areas of Oklahoma is bucking a national trend and dropping.
According to the FBI's preliminary crime numbers for 2007, crime has increased by in nonmetropolitan areas across the U.S. by 1.8 percent in rural counties and by 1.9 percent in cities that have a population of between 10,000 and 24,999.
But authorities in rural areas of Oklahoma say crime is steadily decreasing in their jurisdictions. In the Caddo County town of Hinton, for example, there were 214 criminal reports in 2000, but so far in 2008, the town has received just 48 criminal reports.
Hinton Police Chief Shanon Pack credits a state crackdown on methamphetamine for such declining crime numbers. The state passed a law four years ago that makes it tougher to buy ingredients to manufacture the drug.
No comprehensive studies have linked crime to drug addiction, but according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, one addict commits about 100 crimes per year.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)