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from The Telegraph
March 5, 2007
Decrease in city’s crime rate pleases
Alton city officials
By LINDA N. WELLER
The Telegraph
ALTON -- The city’s 2006 crime rate declined 8.3 percent from 2005, 0.7 percent more than officials initially thought several weeks ago, according to Illinois State Police calculations.
In an even larger drop, Alton’s crime index correspondingly went down 9.3 percent, Alton Police Chief Chris Sullivan said. The crime index measures reported offenses per capita.
"We had predicted the crime rate would go down 7.6 percent" according to data police sent to Springfield but were adjusted there, Sullivan said. "Obviously, we’re pleased."
Alton Mayor Don Sandidge had announced the preliminary expected 7.6 percent decrease in crime during a speech Feb. 6.
Sullivan credited the lower reported crime numbers to continued law enforcement efforts through the Weed and Seed neighborhood revitalization strategy, the hiring of more police officers and "more emphasis on officers on the street."
In 2005, while there was a full or nearly full roster of officers "on paper," many of them were at the police academy or were probationary officers who have to double up with training officers. That meant fewer actually were spread out on the streets to fight crime, the chief said.
"In January 2005, we were 10 officers short; we had 57 of 67" authorized by the City Council, he said. "We had a corresponding number of offenses on the street and corresponding crime rate."
The report says Alton’s crime rate per 100,000 was 6,540 in 2006 and 7,130 in 2005, with crime indexes of 1,925 and 2,123, respectively. Every month, police enter incidents via computer to the State Police, which compiles the data, sends a monthly report card and audits the counts.
Local police cannot change the data they provided to the state, although State Police can edit it if authorities find the incidents are unfounded or need to be moved to a different category. Sullivan said local police, in turn, break down the statistics into more than 100 smaller categories.
They also keep track of the specific neighborhoods or "beat" blocks where various types of calls or incidents occur.
The 2006 incidents, reported to police, within the ISP’s broad crime categories follow, with 2005 numbers in parentheses: murder, 2 (2); criminal sexual assault, 57 (49); robbery, 75 (73); aggravated assault/battery, 205 (180); burglary, 363 (419); theft, 1,083 (1,266); motor vehicle theft, 125 (119); arson, 15 (15).
A second set of data is arrest indexes, with only a 0.8 percent increase in arrests -- 1,994.4 in 2006, compared to 1,978.2 in 2005. However, arrests for criminal sexual assault rose 62.5 percent, from eight to 13; robbery arrests went up 22.7 percent, from 22 to 27; arrests for aggravated assault or battery rose 2.5 percent from 121 to 124; and arrests for motor vehicle theft went up from 32 to 46, an increase of 43.8 percent -- all from 2005 to 2006.
Categories in which arrests decreased were murder, 50 percent, because one of the two accused killers committed suicide in 2006; burglary, down 8.5 percent from 82 to 75; theft, 315 to 297, a decrease of 5.7 percent; and arson, seven in 2005 to four in 2006, down by 42.9 percent.
The third category, drugs, had 13.1 percent fewer arrests in 2006 in all but one breakdown -- cannabis. The rate of drug arrests per 1,000 went down from 1,074.8 in 2005 to 944.5 in 2006, or a 12.1 percent drop.
In actual numbers, there were 120 arrests for alleged violations of the Cannabis Control Act in 2006, up from 100 the previous year. There were 278 total drug arrests in 2006, 320 in 2005; 100 in 2006 for the Controlled Substances Act, down from 147; one arrest in 2006 for violation of the Hypodermic Syringes Needle Act, with none in 2005; and a decrease of 21.9 percent in arrests for alleged violations of the Drug Paraphernalia Act -- 73 in 2005 and 57 in 2006.
However, Sullivan said it would be incorrect to assume drug use is down from those figures alone, because police have no way to know how many incidents there are of substance possession, sale or use. Ironically, the more drug arrests in a city, the worse its crime rate becomes.
"The drug offenses are only represented when people are arrested," the police chief said. "The better job you do at something, the worse your statistics look."
Sullivan recently released the data shortly after it arrived at the Alton Police Department from the State Police. Numbers still could change before the state agency finishes compiling its statewide report in June if more information comes in, or if some incidents prove unfounded, he said.
During his speech, Sandidge referred to a report from the Police Department, saying officers made 13,373 adult and 718 juvenile arrests or citations in 2006, a 16.35 percent increase from 2005. They also issued more traffic citations in 2006, 7,846, compared to 5,808 in 2005.
City police also made 309 arrests for driving under the influence in 2006, 95.6 percent more than the 158 arrests in 2005. There were 71 DUI arrests in 2004.
"There is definitely movement in the right direction for the city and the Police Department," the mayor said. "We are arresting a higher percentage of offenders."
Grants to pay police overtime, purchase of mobile breath-testing units and specialized training have helped the department focus harder on impaired driving, Sullivan said.
"We have a concentrated effort on DUI enforcement, so we can be more diligent," he said.
Police now check for intoxication "for every single vehicle crash in event of injuries," he said.
linda_weller@thetelegraph.com
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