EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado — Crimes around the region dropped again in 2010, according to the District Attorney's Office.

The five-county Fifth Judicial District reflected the 2010 national trend that saw a drop in criminal activity, tracked by the FBI's Unified Crime Reporting Program.

Declining crime numbers result from law enforcement and prosecution as well as the recession, said District Attorney Mark Hurlbert.

“The DA's office and law enforcement are part of it. We have sought and received long sentences. People know that the law enforcement and the DA's office are serious about crime,” Hurlbert said.

The socioeconomic factors also contribute. People seem to be leaving the area, and fewer people mean fewer crimes, Hurlbert said.

Crimes are down in every category except juvenile offenses, according to the DA's report.

Unlike the national statistics, regional crime stats include traffic violations, DUI arrests and misdemeanors.

“For most of those crimes, people don't end up in jail,” said Captain Bill Kaufman with the Eagle County Sheriff's Office.

The jail held 52 prisoners on Tuesday, about average these days, Kaufman said.

With the slumping economy, there's less demand for almost everything, including jail space.

“When the economy slumped, most of our clientele left,” Kaufman said.

With the $38 million justice center expansion, the jail can hold up to 120 prisoners. Last November, the Sheriff's Office closed the new area, which holds 40 prisoners, and everyone moved back to the old facility.

Crime down nationwide

Law enforcement agencies throughout the nation reported a decrease of 6.2 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first six months of 2010 when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2009, the FBI reported. The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Property crimes across the country decreased 2.8 percent in 2010 compared to 2009. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.

Economy slows, so did crime

The recession has seen falling crime rates across the entire country, the FBI found.

It's simply not true that crime rises in bad times and drops in good times, according to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

The study took a look at 2009, the second year of the current recession, and found that national crime rates fell noticeably. It also found that crime rates tend to ignore economic trends, and that most criminals had jobs when they went to jail.

In fact, after crime rates increased for most of the 20th century, they fell over the past two decades, the study found, citing several reasons:

• The population is aging (from median age 30 in 1980 to 36.8 in 2010) and older people commit fewer crimes.

• More people are in prison, 2.4 million compared to 2 million in 2000. Incarceration might not prevent re-offending, but it reduces the time during which a career criminal is active.

• More of us have college degrees, and people with more education commit fewer crimes.

• Fewer illegals are entering the country because there's less work for them. More people in this group tend to be young adult males and they, like other groups of the same demographic, tend to commit more crimes.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 or rwyrick@vaildaily.com.

Caseloads by county

Here is the breakdown for caseloads for 2010 for the 5th Judicial District.

Clear Creek 2009 2010

Domestic violence 65 63

DUI 190 175

Felony 100 124

Juvenile 11 16

Misdemeanor 332 377

Traffic 1,557 1,295

Total caseload 2,255 2,050

Eagle 2009 2010

Domestic violence 189 174

DUI 658 559

Felony 435 411

Juvenile 93 144

Misdemeanor 893 794

Traffic 2,401 1,946

Total caseload 4,669 4,028

Lake 2009 2010

Domestic violence 80 100

DUI 165 111

Felony 103 100

Juvenile 19 16

Misdemeanor 377 324

Traffic 514 294

Total caseload 1,258 945

Summit 2009 2010

Domestic violence 185 137

DUI 358 384

Felony 277 192

Juvenile 44 29

Misdemeanor 770 697

Traffic 1,750 1,541

Total caseload 3,374 2,980

Totals 2009 2010

Domestic violence 509 474

DUI 1,371 1,229

Felony 915 827

Juvenile 167 205

Misdemeanor 2,372 2,192

Traffic 6,222 5,076

Total caseload 11,556 10,003