ST. GEORGE — Land speculators and retiring baby boomers aren't the only people flocking to Utah's Dixie.

The area has been discovered by an increasing number of criminals, as well.

During 2005 through the end of October, more than 30,000 incidents were called in to the St. George dispatch center, which serves the entire county. That compares to 26,675 calls for all of 2004.

Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said population growth has led smaller towns around St. George to establish their own police departments instead of contracting for service with the sheriff's office.

Washington city inaugurated its first full-time police department to handle the city's law enforcement needs in January. Hurricane, LaVerkin, Santa Clara and Ivins also patrol their own streets.

"Washington city was our highest concentration of service calls," Smith said. "When we're constantly responding to calls for service in a town like that, we have little opportunity to get to some of the other places in the county. Sometimes we're lucky to have four people on a shift to cover 2,500 square miles."

Close to 2,100 traffic accidents were reported during the first 10 months of 2005, and about 29,000 citations were written during that same time period, according to crime statistics on the St. George city Web site. That compares to 1,710 traffic accidents and 16,683 citations as recently as 2000, and 2,340 traffic accidents and 20,827 citations for all of 2004.

Even the number of locals being incarcerated at the county jail is going up, Smith said.

Housing state inmates contributes to the jail's budget, because the state pays for their room and board. If county inmates take all the bed space, Smith said, the jail will need to look elsewhere for continued funding.

Last year the jail housed 210 state inmates, and this year there likely will be 180 beds available for state inmates.

"We're housing fewer and fewer state inmates because of that," Smith said. "It's going to go down every year until we have to decide what we're going to do about it."

One way Washington County and its various public safety agencies are trying to tackle the increasing crime rate is through the use of new technology that provides better information.

"The more we know, the better chance we have of coming out on top," said St. George police officer Jeff Bahlmann, a 24-year-old officer with three years of police service. "The one thing I hate the most is the unknown."