Crime & Safety

Crime Down In Wall Township in 2010, FBI says

Federal agency released national crime stats this week

Crime in Wall Township has dropped in nine of 10 categories recorded by the FBI, which released its annual crime statistics this week.

The only area where crime increased from 2009 to 2010 was motor vehicle theft. There were 13 in 2009; 14 last year.

But in every other area, crime decreased in 2010, according to the FBI.

Find out what's happening in Wallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Violent crime decreased significantly. In 2009 there were 25 recorded instances of violent crime. In 2010, that number was 18, a decrease of 28 percent, according to the FBI.

Similarly, property crimes dropped a little more than 26 percent, from 509 instances in 2009 to 375 instances in 2010, according to the FBI.

Find out what's happening in Wallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The biggest percentage decrease was in theft, which reduced 30 percent from 2009 to 2010. There were 263 instances of theft last year, down from 375 the previous year, according to the FBI.

Police Chief Robert Brice said while the news is encouraging, the data comparing the past five years is the guage he pays attention to.

"Itinitially, its a good sign,'' Brice said. "But what I truely look at are the five-year index offenses to really start to guage trends, which I have not seen yet.''

The crime statistics coincide with an overall reduction in Wall’s police force. Brice previously has said the department’s roster numbers 60, down from 72 in the past few years.

Below are the raw numbers provided by the FBI for Wall Township, with 2009 statistics included for comparison.

                               

2010

 

2009

Population

26,387

 

26,265

Violent Crime

18

 

25

Murder

0

 

0

Forcible rape

0

 

2

Robbery

2

 

3

Aggravated assault

16

 

20

Property crime

375

 

509

Burglary

98

 

117

Larceny-theft

263

 

379

Motor vehicle theft

14

 

13

Arson

0

 

0

The full versions of the FBI crime stats for 2010 can be found by clicking here.

For comparison, the FBI's 2009 crime stats are here.


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