City’s crime rate is down in 2007
May 7, 2008
By Jim Feehan
The crime rate in Newcastle went down in 2007, according to preliminary numbers from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
Statistics are compiled in the 2007 Washington Uniform Crime Report, released in April by the association. They show 231 total crimes handled by Newcastle Police during the year compared to 310 in 2006, a 25.5 percent decrease.
Perhaps more telling is the crime-rate-per-1,000 population, which went from 34 percent to 24 percent in the same period.
Newcastle saw increases in rape/attempted rape and aggravated assault. But the actual numbers are low. There were two rapes in 2006; four were reported in 2007 – a 100 percent increase.
“None of the rapes involved stranger-on-stranger-in-the-park-type rapes,” said Newcastle Police Chief Melinda Irvine.
Similarly, aggravated assault jumped from three incidents to five – a 67 percent increase.
One area that showed a sharp decrease, 50 percent, was motor vehicle theft, with 56 vehicles reported stolen in 2006 and 28 in 2007.
Commercial burglaries were down by 22 percent in 2007 and residential burglaries dropped by about 16 percent last year, Irvine said.
Larceny over $250, which largely involves items taken from cars and damage to the vehicle, was down slightly – 91 incidents in 2007 compared to 102 in 2006 – an 11 percent decrease.
“The No. 1 crime issue in Newcastle is car prowls,” Irvine said, regarding what police call car break-ins.
Homeowners should park their cars in a garage, if they have one. Residents should also never leave valuables, such as wallets, computers and Global Positioning System units, in the vehicles, she said.
There were no homicides in either 2006 or 2007. The last homicide in the city was the shooting of Newcastle Police Officer Steve Herzog in 2002.
There was one reported case in 2007 of malicious harassment, the state’s definition of a hate crime. A 29-year-old Auburn man was arrested for investigation of malicious harassment after he threatened to gun down a young man in Newcastle. The Auburn man, driving a Ford F250 pickup, rear-ended the youth’s subcompact, threatened to shoot the youth and yelled racial epithets at him.
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