NORTH COUNTY -- The rate at which violent crimes have been resolved in the last five years in the region and county as a whole has dropped among most law enforcement agencies.

Only a handful of agencies have improved their violent crime clearance rate during the last half-decade, according to the 2005 area crime report released this month by the San Diego Association of Governments, the regional planning agency.

However, the report doesn't explain the drop in solving the violent crimes of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

"I don't think it relates to crime going up or down," said Cynthia Burke, director of the association's criminal justice research division, which compiled the report.

Burke said it's also important to note that annual figures are based on the percent of violent crimes an agency clears in a year, and that some crimes that cleared might have happened in earlier years.

For reporting purposes, the association lists a crime as cleared or solved when at least one person is arrested and charged with the offense.

During the last five years, the report said, the overall rate for clearing violent crimes dropped 11 percent countywide. Last year, 46 percent of the violent crimes open for investigation in the region were solved.

However, the number of violent crimes cleared in Encinitas improved 8 percent over the five years to a 49 percent clearance rate.

"We work very well with the district attorney's office to get (charges in) all of our cases," said detective Sgt. Ron Morse of the Encinitas Sheriff's Station. "Everybody here just puts out an effort."

The Encinitas station deputies also cover Del Mar and Solana Beach. Del Mar's violent crime clearance rate improved 2 percent during the five years, while in Solana Beach the rate dropped 11 percent.

Elsewhere in North County, the number of violent crimes solved dropped in Escondido by 21 percent; San Marcos, 17 percent; Fallbrook and Ramona, 14 percent each; Oceanside, 13 percent; Carlsbad, 11 percent; Poway, 6 percent; Valley Center, 5 percent; and Vista, 4 percent.

"There generally is more effort put on those (violent crime) cases," and often the victim can identify a suspect, said sheriff's Sgt. Scott Miedecke, a North County gang detective.

Miedecke said it would require a breakdown of cases to determine why the clearance rate goes up or down on violent crimes. Burke said no analysis has been done.

Inland Escondido's violent crime often involved transients robbed on the street or aggravated assaults committed by gang members, said police detective Lt. David Mankin.

He said homeless people who are robbed sometimes cannot be found later, and assault victims and witnesses frequently don't want to cooperate for fear of retaliation from gang members.

Officer-involved shootings can impact an agency's violent crime investigations, because the shooting investigations require so much effort, said detective Lt. Shawn Murray of the Oceanside Police Department.

He said Oceanside, which had officer-involved shootings during each of the past two years, is working toward having more officers available to work crimes of violence, possibly within the next year.

In rural Valley Center where there aren't usually many violent crimes, sheriff's Lt. Sean Gerrity said the number of investigators at the station -- two -- hasn't increased since the 1990s.

"I am working on increasing my staffing here," Gerrity said.

Contact staff writer Jo Moreland at (760) 740-3524 or jmoreland@nctimes.com.