Despite a jurisdiction difference of 6:1 between Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the city of Ocala Police Department, the arrest rate for OPD is nearly twice that of the sheriff’s office.
The 2020 County and Municipal Offense Report published by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement earlier this summer has shed light on a variety of crime statistics, including arrest rates from different law enforcement agencies.
The report, which estimates the population of Marion County at 368,135, shows Marion County Sheriff’s Office has jurisdiction over 298,918 of those residents, while the city of Ocala has jurisdiction over 62,023.
In Marion County, the arrest rate for 2020 was 2.18%.
In Ocala, it was nearly two and a half times greater at 5.44%
The arrest rate represents the percentage of arrests that occur per 100,000 residents. In Marion County, just over 2,180 arrests occur for every 100,000 residents, while in Ocala, that number is slightly over 5,441 (Ocala only has less than 63,000 residents).
In total, Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Ocala Police Department account for 94% of all arrests in the county.
The remaining arrests come from multiple law enforcement agencies with a presence in Marion County, including Belleview and Dunnellon Police Departments, among others.
Outpacing both Marion and Ocala law enforcement agencies, Dunnellon has an arrest rate of 6.5%. The city of Dunnellon Police Department made 121 arrests among 1,864 residents, according to the report.
For more information on these and other historical crime statistics, visit the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
