Criminals stayed home during COVID-19 quarantine: 38% drop in Hoover crime from March through May
As businesses shut down and people quarantined themselves in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and state and county health orders in March, April and May, a drop in crimes also occurred.
Crime in Hoover was down 38% during March, April and May, compared to the same three-month period in 2019, according to statistics provided by the Hoover Police Department.
April, in particular, saw a dramatic drop in conjunction with the state health officer’s “stay-at-home” order, which required everyone in the state to stay home from April 4 to April 30, except for “essential” activities, such as going to an “essential” job, or to obtain “necessary” supplies or services, such as food or medical care.
The number of crimes regularly tracked by Hoover police fell 64 percent from 338 crimes in April 2019 to 123 crimes in April 2020. There were no burglaries, thefts of vehicles, counterfeit or forgery cases, embezzlements, vandalism or weapon violations reported in Hoover during the entire month of April 2020.
People in Alabama began to pay more attention to the COVID-19 outbreak on March 13 when Gov. Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency and ordered all public schools closed from March 16 to April 5. Jefferson County Public Health Officer Dr. Mark Wilson began shutting down the dining rooms of restaurants and bars March 17, and then all “non-essential” businesses March 20.
Those orders also appeared to contribute to a decline in crime in Hoover in March. The number of regularly tracked criminal offenses fell 19%, from 316 in March 2019 to 257 in March 2020.
While the state health officer began to allow some businesses to reopen at half capacity at the beginning of May, others were forced to remain closed until May 11. And even when they were allowed to reopen, it was still at half capacity.
Some businesses didn’t survive the extended closure or limitations on how they could conduct business, and many people have continued to seek shelter at home and limit excursions out of concern of contracting or unknowingly spreading COVID-19.
Crime in Hoover was down 30% in May, from 362 regularly tracked crimes in May 2019 to 253 crimes in May 2020.
The cumulative 38% drop for the three-month period of March, April and May included a:
- 71% drop in auto burglaries
- 67% drop in embezzlement cases
- 64% drop in shoplifting
- 59% drop in drug offenses
- 57% drop in vehicle thefts
- 50% drop in burglaries
- 48% drop in overall thefts
- 43% drop in counterfeit and forgery cases
- 43% drop in robberies
- 40% drop in weapon violations
- 30% drop in vandalism
Assaults also declined, but not as dramatically. They were down only 8% for the three-month period, from 208 assaults in 2019 to 192 in 2020.
Some people suspected there might be an increase in domestic violence as people stayed home more, but that was difficult to tell based on the statistics provided by Hoover police.
Hoover police provided numbers only for first-degree and second-degree domestic violence assaults, which are the more serious assaults, and those declined 55% for the three-month period, from 11 in 2019 to five in 2020.
The vast majority of domestic assaults are third-degree assaults. Statistics were not provided for those, and Hoover police did not respond to further inquiries.