Paul Bass Photo
Crime dropped across the board in 2009. It continues to drop. So there’s no need to change course.
Police Chief James Lewis (pictured) delivered that message at a press conference Thursday at police headquarters.
He delivered the official 2009 crime stats for the city. The crime rate is the lowest it’s been in at least 20 years.
Total crime dropped 10 percent from 2008. Murders dropped 48 percent, from 23 to 12. Reported rape dropped 5 percent. Burglary, 15 percent. Motor vehicle theft, 21 percent.
Overall, the city had 1,041 fewer crime victims.
That trend has continued in 2010, Lewis said. This January had 21 percent fewer shootings than last January. February so far has had 69 percent fewer shootings than the year before.
Lewis cited all those statistics to rebut an argument he’s heard twice in the new year. The argument: Crime’s out of control. So the police have to try a radically different strategy.
He heard it first after a spate of shootings the first week of the year.
“One or two instances of violence,” Lewis said, shouldn’t be used as an “excuse to try something that may be politically popular with a small group of people.”
Then last week the Guardian Angels announced they’re starting a citizens patrol in Fair Haven because of rampant crime there.
To offer a different view, Lewis broke down statistics just for Fair Haven: Murder is down 88 percent from 2008 to 2009. Robbery is down 12 percent. Aggravated assault, 23 percent. Burglary, 31 percent. Theft from auto, 49 percent. Reported firearm discharge, 49 percent.
He credited the turnaround to cops working under the direction of Fair Haven District Manager Lt. Luiz Casanova, as well as citizens reporting a lot more information to the police. Citizens no longer “accept” prostitution on the corner, or quads “driving up on sidewalks,” or drug dealing “in front of their kids,” Lewis said.
Lewis said the department turned around not by adopting a new strategy, not by spending more money (in fact, it cut overtime), but by focusing on “basic simple policing”: “targeting the 1 or 2 percent of people who are terrorizing the community, and stopping them from doing it.”
He did mention that the property room was in “chaos” when he arrived in town 20 months ago to take over the department, and the records room was “years behind,” providing “bad data” that meant “we were hitting places we shouldn’t have been hitting.” Both rooms are now up to date and running smoothly, he said.
Lewis made the presentation eight days before he leaves the department. The city is currently interviewing candidates to replace him. Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Stephanie Redding will take over the department.