BUCYRUS — Crawford County Common Pleas Judge Sean Leuthold recently expressed his pleasure with recent drug-related crime statistics.
“I am very pleased with these results,” Leuthold said. “Drug-related crime has been drastically reduced and it still dropping.”
Stats recorded show a reduction in drug-related burglaries, thefts and robberies for 2014, 2017 and 2018.
Leuthold said it has been a group effort since he took the bench in 2015 as common pleas judge to create the reduction in crime.
“This drop in crime is a result of excellent work by law enforcement, law directors and prosecutors,” Leuthold said. “However, I do believe the courts have played a role in our success. People have learned that Crawford County is the wrong place to be involved in drug-related crime. If you commit drug-related crimes in Crawford County, you are going to be punished.”
Leuthold said an increase in indictments has helped lower the crime rate.
“I believe we are indicting more people per capita than any other county in the state,” Leuthold claimed. “Last year we had over 400 indictments, and our county is on track to surpass that number this year.
“Many people think that a large number of indictments indicate that crime has increased. In fact, the opposite is true. Greater police activity and more indictments usually cause crime to decrease by removing habitual criminals from our community.”
Leuthold also explained why he focused on burglaries and break-ins, robberies and thefts.
“First, these are the crimes that are almost always drug related,” Leuhtold said. “In addition, they are almost always reported to the police and involve innocent victims. These statistics cannot be manipulated in that they are not subject to factors such as police activity, or plea agreements. These statistics truly reflect our county’s crime rate and our quality of life.”