| Redmond Police Chief Ron Gibson |
It goes without saying "crime sells" in the media business. We see it almost every day in the local news-casts and almost everyday on the smart-phone news aggregators, like MY Northwest.com/Redmond. Based on crime news frequency alone, you might think Redmond's safety budget was stretched thin to keep up with demand for safety support services. Not necessarily so. Case in point ...
Police Chief Ron Gibson's Department announced some great news on June 8, that "The Redmond Police Department's 2011 statistics reflect similarity to what law enforcement agencies are seeing nationwide - crime is down." Isn't that great news! Here's a quick run-down of a few of the most reported crimes:
Police spokesperson Jim Bove writes Redmond's highest incident property crime - Vehicle prowls - is down once again from 684 in 2010 to 554 in 2011. Burglaries declined from 198 in 2010 to 157 in 2012. That's a 20% and 11% drop retrospectively year over year. According to Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs (WASPC) 2011 data, Identity Theft (including Credit/ATM fraud) is down 41% in 2011 from 202 incidences in 2010 to 120 incidences this year. Whew! Even with our growing mobility apparatus, Motor Vehicle Thefts are down 17% from 2010. Read what crimes are going up >>
Vandalism / Malicious Mischief stick out like sore thumbs on the stat list, UP 47% from 195 incidences in 2010 to 368 incidences in 2011. Mail Theft incident is low at 29 in 2011 but it's up 26% from 2010.
More good news to sleep well on: Redmond Police crime stats document a 54% reduction in crime rate from 1985 - based on: a 53.9 incidence per 1,000 Pop. in 1985 (28,130 pop) vs. 25.3 incidence per 1,000 in 2011 (55,150 pop).
Bove says "with Social Media, 24-hour media" and reliable city safety alert-response notice "the perception is often that crime is increasing, but reality says differently." Chief Gibson gives a lot of credit to the Neighborhood Watch Groups, community involvement in reporting suspicious activity." and with 911 infrastructures, teen programs and community support and pride.
Opinion and report by Yoder
Photo courtesy City of Redmond
My Northwest.com/Redmond news aggregator: http://local.mynorthwest.com/redmond
Redmond Police Department Crimes stats from l985 - 2011 www.redmond.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=77449
It could be that vandalism/malicious mischief and mail theft did not increase, but people were more likely to report them.
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