Redmond had the second-highest rate of serious crime last year of the state’s 41 largest cities, according to recently released FBI statistics.

Of the 41 Oregon cities with populations of 10,000 or more, Redmond ranked second on the list for most serious offenses reported per capita in 2000, with 85 crimes per 1,000 people.

Newport had the highest rate with 85.4 crimes per 1,000 people.

Statewide, Bend fell in the middle at No. 21 with 55.7 crimes per 1,000.

Serious crimes are murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, car theft and arson.

The FBI totals them into a modified crime index.

In analyzing the data, The Bulletin compared the index with the cities’ populations, using 2000 census figures instead of older figures used by the FBI, to calculate a serious crime rate.

While the FBI does not keep statistics on cities with fewer than 10,000 people, such as Prineville and Madras, The Bulletin included statistics from those cities in an analysis of crime in Central Oregon. The cities were then ranked one through four both on their overall crime rates and on individual crimes, not including murder. During 2000, two murders occurred in Bend and none in the other three cities. None of the cities reported more than 11 rapes, and the 22 robberies reported in Bend last year was the highest in any of the four. Prineville recorded no rapes or robberies in 2000.

Figures from Sisters and La Pine, which are patrolled by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, were not available.

No. 1 Redmond

Among Central Oregon cities, Redmond had the most crimes per 1,000 people. It ranked first in rapes, larceny and robbery per capita.

Redmond was second in the amount of burglaries and car thefts per 1,000 people, third in aggravated assaults and fourth in arson. The city reported 11 rapes and 11 robberies last year.

”I think we would all like to see our community be at the absolute bottom of the list,” Redmond Police Chief Lane Roberts said. ”We try not to draw too many conclusions from raw statistics. You’ve got to look at how active you are at going after crime.”

One reason for the high rate, he said, is that people have confidence in and are willing to utilize Redmond police services and as a result may tend to report more crimes.

Roberts said several factors may have contributed to Redmond’s higher crime rate compared to other Central Oregon cities. Redmond has the regional airport and ”world-class” fair facility with a growing customer base. The two facilities draw more people to the city and crime along with it, he said. Redmond also draws a lot of people because it is at the confluence of two major highways 126 and 97.

”We know that the primary drug route through Oregon to Washington and California is Highway 97, which runs right through the middle of town,” he said.

No. 2 Madras

Madras had the second highest crime rate per 1,000 people in Central Oregon. It was ranked first in car thefts and burglary per capita; second in larceny, rape and arson per 1,000 residents. And it was third in robberies and fourth in aggravated assaults. The city reported two aggravated assaults in 2000.

”Generally I think we do quite well on person crimes aggravated assaults and robberies,” Madras Police Chief Enes Smith said. ”We work those real hard. But there is an increase in property crimes.

Smith blamed a portion of the rising number of property crimes on the increasing number of people using methamphetamine who steal to support their addiction.

”There is a fair number using meth,” he said. ”You can tell just from the number of meth labs the CODE (Central Oregon Drug Enforcement) team has taken down in the last several months.”

Smith said, however, the opening of the new Jefferson County Jail, which took inmate capacity from 16 to 160, should ”certainly reduce property crimes.”

”It was very frustrating (before the new jail opened). There was simply no room for people committing property crimes,” he said. Now with room to house criminals, Smith said more thieves will be taken off the street for longer periods of time. In addition, he said jail programs such as those dealing with substance abuse could also reduce property crimes.

No. 3 Bend

Bend was third in the number of crimes per 1,000 people. It had the second highest number of robberies and aggravated assaults in the four Central Oregon cities per capita. It was third in rape, larceny, arson, car theft, and burglary.

”I’m not surprised we’re in the middle of the pack,” Bend Police Chief Andy Jordan said. ”We’re a growing city, obviously. We’re quickly becoming a city, and with it, getting more crime.”

While the city scored fairly low in several categories, Jordan said, statistics for next year don’t look quite as good. Homicides, rapes, burglaries and robberies and larceny combined are up 24.4 percent in the first eight months of this year when compared with the first eight months of 2000, he said.

No. 4 Prineville

Prineville had the lowest number of crimes per 1,000 people. At the same time, however, it had the highest number of aggravated assaults and arson per 1,000 people in Central Oregon. Otherwise it was at the bottom for the number of car thefts, larceny, rape, robbery and burglary.

”That makes sense,” said Prineville Police Chief Jim Soules. ”Prineville is still very much a family community, and we’re a little bit off the beaten path.

”We don’t have the transient population or the central location like Bend or Redmond,” he said, noting anyone driving or shopping in Central Oregon usually ends up in Bend or Redmond, making the cities a hot spot for property crimes.

”I do give my department a pat on the back as well. We work hard and well with the community,” he said. ”We’ve been working with the community long before the phrase community policing was in vogue.”

While the high number of assaults, 46, disturbed Soules, he said it did not surprise him.

”Prineville has always been a little bit of an Old West town, and things are settled with a fist all too often,” he said.

”We have unacceptable amount of domestic violence and a fair amount of activity around alcohol abuse and use around the bars.”

In addition, Soules said Prineville had an unusually high number of arsons six for 2000. He also said four arrests were made in connection with the fires.