Ed Sieger reports in the Express-Times that crimes rates in Easton dropped in 2010. I refer you to these statistics with caveats from last year's post, by Terrence Miller, in which the reliability of such statistics is hashed out thoroughly. I still highly recommend that everyone watch HBO's The Wire to get an idea of the pressure on police departments all over the country to meet statistical goals, among other aspects of how the drug dealing business, the police departments who fight it, and politics intersect.
This year's report from the Easton Police Department is confusing, because apparently
serious and violent crimes increased, yet there were small decreases in arson, rape, robbery, burglary and simple and aggravated assaults--which all sound pretty violent to me. There was a decrease in forgery, fraud, vandalism and weapons offenses, and an increase in drunk driving public drunkenness and drug arrests. The most surprising number was a 37 percent increase in auto-theft. Police Chief Palmer chalks this, and the rise of percentage of thefts in general (but not robbery or burglary?), to the current condition of our economy.
So it sounds like people are getting depressed in this recession and stealing stuff to get by--especially cars--and that the recession has gone on so long that rather than venting through bar fights any more, or taking it out on women, everyone has just decided to get high or drown their sorrows in booze. How's that for a state of the union address?
As always, thanks go out to our police department for all their hard work in our neighborhoods. I'm interested to hear residents' impressions on the crime rate this year. Please state your area of the city, and whether you think it's been quieter as opposed to past years. It has been a lot quieter lately near 8th & Ferry, but then again, that might just be the cold weather...
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10 comments:
To be fair, our neighborhood is way better, the Easton police are more noticeable, and the patrols far more regular. Hells even the local criminals now call the police when there's a disturbance...
It is a bit disturbing that burglary and such is up, not surprising but ...
My own concern is home invasions which May fall under the serious crime umbrella. Nationally they were down for quite a while as it was a third world practice that does go over well in a heavily armed nation. And yet they keep making minor comebacks as the economy starts and stalls. I'd love the numbers for those if anyone has them.
All in all though, I'm pretty happy with a noticeable decrease in crime and disturbances on our block , and I have no doubt that this is due to an increased police presence, some very useful action on the part of the codes office and to be fair a Willingness on the part of our local land lord Larry Marra jr to do background checks and move into code compliance and otherwise sort himself out.
We had major issues with him at first, but he seems to be stepping up to the plate and should be recognized for it.
It's been the work of a lot of folks but the block is generally safer . Again a nod to the EPD without which none of this could have happened. On the whole we're pretty pleased, but somewhat cautious towards the future.
Peace,
David
Ohh...the 8-10 hundred blocks near the big church (St Anthony's?)
Peace,
David and Apollo Pizza, west ward.
Okay, so I pulled up the UCR on the cities website.
http://www.easton-pa.gov/policeforms.html
the 2010 figures aren't up yet, but looking at the numbers and the generally downward trend of most crimes within the city I feel much happier. It's worth a look . Nice job one and all.
Sorry for earlier spelling errors, my keyboard needed new batteries.
Peace,
David
David--thanks for the link!
Sal Panto says:
Thanks Dave, we will have the 2010 figures up in a day or so. With them you will see that burglary is actually downagain this year -1.8%. In the UCR Part 1 category its theft and auto theft that increased giving the increase overall in that category. These are thefts that do not involve another individual - they are categorized as a burglary, such as a home invasion.
In the UCR Part 2 category the two increases occurred in drug offenses and DUI. We are going after the drug market as you know so these numbers will be up. With the 11 additional officers, the high tech equipment and our residents serving as additional eyes and ears crime is down.
There will always be individuals who will challenge the numbers. In Easton we don't set goals and there is no pressure on the police department to achieve a certain level. Those that do that usually end up fabricating the numbers, plant drugs on individuals, etc.
There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that crime is down in Easton. With that said we still have a lot more work to do. The good news is that we are heading in the right direction with a department of professional police officers wanting to make Easton safer.
Mayor, thanks for the info.
I'll admit it impresses me that you (mayor Panto) take the time to use this medium , a lot of others wouldn't. It probably goes without saying, but we will be voting for you in this years race.
I can't really think of much to critique, and I think it's obvious that I'm not shy about such things.
Nicely done,
Thanks,
David
Yes. Ditto. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you fellow residents. We have worked hard. And not for pay. For love. Love of Easton. And thats what it really takes to change things.
Since I never say this, I'll pause to do so here.
We love our house, we love and tend our yard. It's a well earned and hard won bit of paradise in an otherwise storm of gloom.
We even love what this city could be?
Thousands of gorgeous historic homes, many with 140 year old wood work and detail that has survived conversion after conversion.
This place is a gem architecturally, the rental down the street even has wood with old masonic and runic markings...priceless, and never to be repeated. Whatever needs to be done to save this piece of rare American history that is Easton should be done, we'll help as we may.
Blessings,
David
Please Gods, let us get the damned train ;)
Mayor, if you're reading today, with regard to David's last comment, is there a next step scheduled in which the public can come out to support bringing the train to Easton? Please let us know!
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