Hartford Police: Serious Crime Is Down

Hartford police say that serious crime is down in the city.  And as WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, the numbers of shooting incidents and shooting victims are down, too. 

 

Serious crimes include murder, rape, robbery, and other categories.  Most of those numbers were down from 2009, except for aggravated assaults in the city.  Notably, murders in the city were down 26.5 percent by the end of December.

 

Serious crime has been going down over the past few years.  What hasn't gone down is the number of shooting incidents and shooting victims.  Police Chief Daryl Roberts says this year reverses the trend.

 

"Over the last four years, it's actually gone the other way.  It's going down now, it's turning around."

 

Roberts says the reason is that police have taken guns off the streets with the help of city residents.

 

"Even before the gun is fired, people say, 'Hey, there's a guy walking down Albany Avenue, or walking down Park Street or walking down Main Street, what have you, he's wearing a blue jacket, jeans and I just saw him put a gun in his pants.' That's prevention.  And then we get the guy, he's got the gun."

 

The announcement of crime statistics comes after a double homicide in the city on New Years day.

 

For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.