Earlier this week, Attorney General Roy Cooper announced state crime numbers were down, but Wake County was headed in the other direction.
Sheriff Donnie Harrison says old computer software caused incorrect reporting to the state back in 2008 that was too low.
That meant that last year a State Bureau of Investigations report showed a 31 percent drop in crime county-wide.
But Harrison says the number was actually closer to 4.7 percent.
The 2009 numbers that were sent in were correct. So, the Sheriff says, he wasn't surprised when a report this week showed a 17 percent hike in crime.
It's a number he calls a simple statistical correction.
"Technically we're down about six percent here in the county, so I feel good about what we've done," Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said. "Could we get it down lower, I'd love to say yes. But that's just the way the ball bounces."
Harrison says his department is working on ways to make sure computer generated statistics are more in line with how the state gathers data.
