TRENTON –– Over 5,000 indexed crimes (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft) were committed in Cape May County last year, an increase of 5 percent over the previous year’s total of just under 4,800.
The crime rate also increased by 7 percent, from 47.6 incidents per 1,000 inhabitants in 2005 to 50.8 incidents in 2006.
On Oct. 16, Attorney General Anne Milgram released the 2006 Uniform Crime Report (UCR), which details police statistics compiled by the 549 law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
County trends oppose those found statewide, where both total crime and the crime rate decreased by 2 percent. In 2006, there were around 230,000 crimes reported in New Jersey, about 4,000 less than the previous year, and the crime rate fell from 26.9 to 26.4.
The county’s crime rate is so much higher than the state’s because the number is based on full-time population and doesn’t take into consideration the dramatic increase in crime that comes along with the summer tourism season.
To compensate, the state issues a supplement with the UCR for resort towns that uses average population rather than full-time. These figures, however, were not available for the county as a whole. Avalon, for instance, had the highest crime rate based on full-time population, 145.8, but Wildwood’s was higher using the average population, 60.2.
Indexed crimes are broken down into violent and non-violent categories. There were 333 violent crimes committed in the county last year and 4,710 of the non-violent variety, an increase of 7 percent and 5 percent respectively.
The state saw slight decreases in both violent and non-violent crime, but had a 2 percent increase in murders from 418 to 427.
“We must be aggressive in adopting intelligence-led policing to reduce the number of gun crimes and murders,” Milgram said regarding the 30,543 violent crimes committed in the state last year of which nearly 7,000 involved a firearm. “We also need stiffer penalties for illegal gun possession.”
Locally, Ocean City had the highest total incidents of crime last year with 1,066 but Middle Township saw the most violent crimes, 100.
Wildwood saw the most robberies, 35, but Middle Township was home to the only murder in the county last year and the most aggravated assaults by far with 74.
Countywide crimes for 2006 broke down as follows: (violent) murder, 1; rape, 18; robbery, 79; aggravated assault, 235; (non-violent) burglary, 888; larceny, 3,697; and vehicle theft, 125.
The largest increase from 2005 for violent crimes was in reported rapes from 14 to 18 or 29 percent. Aggravated assault rose 8 percent from 218 to 235 incidents.
In non-violent crimes, there were 8 percent more cases of larceny from 3,429 in 2005 to 3,697 last year, while vehicle thefts dropped 19 percent from 154 to 125.
Last year, Ocean City had the most burglaries, 182, and larcenies, 853, but Middle Township reported the most vehicle thefts, 30.
The UCR also compiled statistics on stolen and recovered property. The report estimates nearly $4.9 million worth of property was stolen from victims in the county last year and over $935,000 or 19.2 percent was recovered.
Statewide, 33.9 percent of the $420 million worth of stolen property was recovered.
In addition to crime statistics, the UCR also compiles arrest figures.
Total arrests were up 3 percent from 2005, but drug arrests were down 10 percent.
In this county last year, officers made 8,944 arrests of which 1,139 were for index offences, 283 violent and 856 non-violent. In 2005, a total of 8,721 arrests were made.
Last year, 757 drug-related arrests were made, down from 842 or 10 percent from the previous year. Both possession/use and sale/manufacture arrests were down significantly.
Critics of these reports say they don’t accurately reflect crime rates because they only deal with crimes reported to law enforcement agencies; only list the most serious offence when multiple crimes are reported; and they don’t include simple assaults along with other violent crimes.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
