The Mesa County District Attorney says filings for felony crimes are down by almost 250 cases - the biggest drop in almost ten years.

In 2007 the county filed just over 2,100 drug, homicide, fraud and other felony cases.

In 2008 that number was just under 1,900. District Attorney Pete Hautzinger attributes the drop to the war on meth and a combination of law enforcement and drug abuse treatment programs in the county.

“We're finally seeing how the impact of the more people you can get unaddicted so that they're not out committing crimes.. the more crime is gonna go down,” says Hautzinger.

Even though the overall case load may be down, Hautzinger says more cases went to trial in 2008 than ever before.

That number topped 152, more than double the number of cases just three years ago.