Asbury Park crime rate remains lower than in previous years
BY NANCY SHIELDS COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU JULY 13, 2008
ASBURY PARK A downturn in crime that made last year the best in the city in a
decade is
continuing so far this year, according to reports for the first half of 2008.
Police Chief Mark Kinmon released statistics through the end of June showing
one murder
compared with three at the halfway point last year. There were reports of 69
robberies
compared to 86 halfway through 2007, two rapes compared with six at the same
time last
year, and 62 aggravated assaults compared with 74 as of June 30 last year.
The reduction in homicides, if it continues, is significant, following the high
of eight in
2006 and six last year. The city, like many urban communities, was hit hard
with young
people, often gang members, shooting and killing each other.
"We feel we're making a lot of progress on the gangs," Kinmon said. "The county
(Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office) continues to be a big help."
He said the increase of the city police officers to 90 has been important as
well as
assigning city police members to the county gang task force, the FBI's gang
task force and
the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force. The city police budget had a $1.75
million increase
this year, which included money for 14 positions added to the department in the
past year
and a half.
Car thefts were down to 24 from 42 reported by the end of June last year.
Burglaries were
about the same, at 120 so far this year.
"Anytime the numbers are down, we are happy," the chief said. "We've started
strong for
the first part of the year. We want to finish strong."
"We have the right people in the right positions and we have to keep the heat
on," said
Deputy Mayor Jimmy Bruno. "The street crimes unit, which is doing one heck of a
job, has
to continue. If we have the resources, we'd love to increase the police
department even
more."
A significant increase this year came in larcency, with 252 reports the first
half of this year
compared with 164 for the same period last year. Kinmon said the increase
reflects a hot
trend, here and elsewhere, of stealing navigation Global Positioning Systems
(GPS) from
cars.
"We made several arrests around the beginning of May, and it seems to have
dropped," the
chief said.
Kinmon said city patrol officers and detectives are taking policing to a new
level. For
example, he said, there have been 25 driving-while-intoxicated arrests as of
June 30,
compared with 12 last year. And there's been an increase in traffic summonses.
At the same time, the data shows a downward trend in narcotics activity. As of
June 30,
there were 214 reports of drug activity compared with 273 half way through last
year. The
total reports of drug activity in 2007 was 515, half of the total 1,038 in
2006, Kinmon
said.
Narcotics arrests were up 450 arrests compared with 405 halfway through 2007.
Simple assaults were up from 220 to 255 for the first six months, and criminal
mischief
was up from 276 to 310.
Disorderly conduct incidents were down from 2,003 the first half of last year,
to 1,835.
"There's a lot of work to be done and we have a long way to go but I"m very
pleased with
the direction the department's going," Kinmon said.
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