Bad guys lie, but numbers do not.

Once again, the Oakland County Sheriff’s substation in Oxford Township had the highest clearance rate of the agency’s 12 substations last year.

Approximately 62 percent of the criminal cases were cleared, or closed.

That means they either resulted in an arrest or were cleared by exceptional means.

Exceptional means are reasons beyond law enforcement’s control that prevented an offender from being arrested and formally charged. Examples include a victim’s refusal to cooperate or the prosecutor denying a warrant.

Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Patterson, commander of the Oxford substation since 2011, is proud of his officers.

“They work really hard and it shows,” he said. “We just plug away doing our thing. It’s not like we go out and try to achieve (a specific) clearance rate. We’re just doing what we do. It’s part of the work product, honestly.”

A total of 237 crimes were reported to the Oxford substation last year. Of those, 98 resulted in arrests and 50 were cleared by exceptional means.

“Everybody pitches in,” Patterson said. “It’s really a team effort.”

The lieutenant noted he’s been fortunate over the years to have some good detectives – first Jason Louwaert and now, Shane Freiberg – and some solid sergeants in the form of Jerry DeRosia and Frank Lenz.

“Those guys are really good at what they do and it shows,” he said.

Oxford beat out substations in neighboring Addison (approximately 56 percent), Orion (53.01 percent), Brandon (60.63 percent), Oakland (41.76 percent), Independence (46.68 percent) and Commerce (46.19 percent).

Over in Addison, a total of 84 crimes were reported last year. Of those, 33 resulted in arrests and 14 were cleared by exceptional means

Oakland Township’s clearance rate was the lowest of the 12 substations.