Serious crime down by double digits in some Middletown neighborhoods

Serious

The following are serious crimes from January to July:

Murder 0

Rape 19

Aggravated Assault 141

Robbery 44

Burglary 679

Theft 1640

Motor Vehicle Theft 62

TOTALS 2,585

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The following are serious crimes from January to July 2011 (2011 totals are in parentheses) :

Murder 3 (4)

Rape 24 (39)

Aggravated Assault 121 (218)

Robbery 55 (103)

Burglary 657 (1309)

Theft 1702 (2949)

Motor Vehicle Theft 67 (111)

TOTALS 2629 (4733)

Source: Middletown Division of Police

By the numbers

The Middletown Division of Police assembled a task force more than three months ago to address violent crimes — assault, robbery, burglary and theft — in the area of Sherman Park. The task force has concentrated its efforts on the Sherman Park and Lakeside areas and violent crimes have been on the decline.

Sherman Park

A 10 percent decrease

A 30 percent decrease

A 29 percent decrease

Lakeside area

A 3 percent decrease

A 20 percent decrease

An 11 percent decrease

Source: Middletown Division of Police

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The Middletown Journal knows personal safety is an important topic for our readers. We will continue to provide information about crime and what is being done about it in your neighborhood.

Serious crimes in the city have dropped the first part of the year, according to police, and they cite neighborhood and business watches as part of the reasons for the decline.

Though the total number of serious crimes dropping has been small citywide, some neighborhoods have shown double digit drops in the first seven months of the year compared to last year.

Maj. Mark Hoffman said the watches have “done very well for us.”

Neighborhood watches has been around the city for 30 years, but what’s new are the Chamber of Commerce Serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton’s Business Watch for Safer Communities and a police task force targeting two residential neighborhoods.

“People have a tendency to think the police are all about law enforcement and crime,” said Maj. Rodney Muterspaw. “It’s about the problem solving, it really is. When the neighborhood has problems, it’s our goal and obligation to go in there and solve the problem with them.”

Citywide, serious crime is down by 1.7 percent from last year. Specifically, rapes, robberies, thefts and vehicle thefts are all down. There hasn’t been a murder this year, though there were three in the first seven months of 2011.

Hoffman said the chamber’s business watch has opened up lines of communication between the police and the business community.

“Both groups learn something from each other,” he said. “They’ll let us know some issues that might not be a high priority (such as suspicious activity) for the police department but is a high priority for them.”

Inspired by Steve and Brenda Dillman, owners of Dillman’s Grocery, the chamber formed last year in earnest the Business Watch for Safer Communities and has grown threefold since it started.

“It’s a top priority for your chamber of commerce because it’s a top priority for the small businesses,” said Bill Triick, chamber of commerce president and CEO, at the monthly business luncheon Thursday at the Middletown Senior Center.

“Next to the general economy and being able to thrive and grow in kind of a challenging time, is taking care of your property, taking care of your assets, taking care of your employees and taking care of your customers as well. We want to provide a safety environment to do business and some places in Middletown are able to do that and in particular areas small businesses appear to be targeted.”

“There are a whole lot of really good environments in Middletown and we think it’s a great place to have a business and reside and advance and grow, but we want to nip off this issue,” said Triick. “There is nobody that’s not at risk.”

Steve Dillman told the group at the business luncheon, “If it’s not affecting you now, sooner or later it will.”

“Our only goal is to provide a safe and attractive business and family environment for our community,” he said. “This provides the safe shopping and living experience, it gives people economic confidence in their neighborhoods and hopefully it can lead to future economic development in our community.”

And like the business watch, neighborhood watches are a “great way for us (to stay involved),” said Muterspaw.

“When we have neighborhood problems, people tend to want to get involved more,” he said. “And we can’t solve anything without community help.”

Bill Keith, the neighborhood watch leader for the Franklin Street area, became involved six years ago because he was a victim of crime.

Election Day 2005, his truck, parked in front of his home, was broken into. At that time, he said the area had many houses burglarized and vandalized.

“It makes us aware of what to look for,” said Keith who’s known as the “neighborhood watch guy” on his street.

Keith is the neighborhood watch representative on the 15-member Middletown Division of Police Citizens Advisory Board, which fosters communication and cooperation between the police and residents.

“We all kind of keep an eye on each other,” Keith said of his neighborhood watch. “Our job is to communicate the community’s needs to the police department.”

That means they don’t try to stop crime when it’s taking place. They try to prevent it from happening by talking with and helping neighbors, and reporting any suspicious activity.

Several months ago, the police department formed a task force to target some of the more problem neighborhoods, the Sherman Park and Lakeside areas of town. The goal of the task force is to problem solve and partner with neighborhoods make a safer community.

Since the task force has been formed, there has been a double-digit percent decrease in crime in the Sherman Park and Crawford Street area, and the Lakeside/downtown area.

“The task force has been working since May and each month dedicates a large number of man hours to developing a plan of action to combat crime and nuisance issues,” said Sgt. John Newlin. “As you can see by the statistics, crime in each beat sector has declined in some fashion.”

Crime in these two areas has decreased a collective 13 percent in May 2012 from May 2011. It’s down 50 percent in June 2012 from June 2011. Complete data for July is not yet available, but during the first three weeks, crime is down 40 percent in July 2012 from last July.

“While we continue to work these areas, we have had many positive comments come back from citizens about the increased visibility of police in their neighborhood,” Newlin said. “There have also been several arrests made by police in areas we have received complaints, along with the indictments of numerous gang members in June.”

When the task force started, there were two patrol officers and a sergeant assigned to the area. On June 24, two additional officers were assigned.

The task force has identified and police have investigated four other gangs —Taylor Gang, Ocean Gang, Bad News Gang and Two- Six Gang. With 11 members of the gangs being charged, three have plead guilty, one has a pending trial and seven have been indicted and are awaiting a trial date.