Crime reports have been compiled by the Middletown Division of Police for the year through the end of September. Some of the trends are good. Some, we need to spend more time looking at.
Citizen Complaints year to date are down 52% from last year – We are very happy to see that.
Use of Force is up 5% from last year – Corrections (Jail) Use of Force is included in this. A report is created each time MPD has a Use of Force and the reports are reviewed both for legitimacy of the force used but also for training as to how force could be avoided in future situations.
Officers assaulted is down 3 from last year for a 25% reduction – again, We are very happy to see this.
Part 1 Crimes (Serious crimes) are down 73 from last year for a 3% decrease.
Theft is down 105 from last year for a 6% decrease
Aggravated Assault is down 7 from last year
Robbery is up 9 from last year
Drug Arrests are up 52% from last year – It will be curious to see how the new “Good Samaritan Law” will affect this moving forward. Our heroin response team (Paramedic/ Police Officer/ Social Worker) follows up with addiction related arrests and works to offer treatment to addicted arrestees. Judge Wall continues to utilize the Vivitrol shot to work with addicted arrestees. This will be an ongoing problem.
Prisoners booked into the jail is down almost 4% from last year. Despite the increase in drug arrests, overall arrests are still down
Juvenile arrests are down from last year 23%
Detective Case Load is down 21% from last year
Detective Case Clearance rate is down 17% from last year – I assume, but I may be wrong, that the two homicide cases took a lot of time away from other cases.
Now for the areas where we still have additional questions and concerns:
DUI arrests are up 21% from last year. That’s good for getting drunk drivers off the road, but concerning that more drivers are out there driving under the influence.
Rape is up 11 from last year. This is troubling and hard to influence at the city level.
Domestic Violence calls are up 8% from last year. Domestic Violence arrests are up 27% from last year – this is a large increase and we need to look further at the details of those calls. How many are repeat offenders, what is the alleged cause of the violence, what can we do to help victims better recognize and escape abusing relationships. We’ll continue to work on this.
We’ll keep you in the loop as we work on curbing crime and helping our citizens lead productive, safe lives in Middletown….
