By Jeff Proctor
Albuquerque Journal
When America’s economy has been bad, crime has traditionally gone up. But for the first half of 2011, property crimes were down 8 percent in Albuquerque, and violent crimes dropped by 5.5 percent, preliminary figures from APD show.
Those reductions mirror a nationwide trend that shows violent crimes dropped 6.4 percent drop, while property crimes were down 3.7 percent compared to the same period in 2010, according to statistics provided to the FBI by law enforcement agencies.
“Normally, you would think that, with the economy in the shape it’s in, you would see crime on an upward trend,” Police Chief Ray Schultz said Wednesday. “But information is spreading more quickly, and criminals watch the news, too. They know that police, the business community and private individuals have more tools, more technology at their disposal.”
Twice yearly, the FBI produces its Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, based on information from more than 12,500 law enforcement agencies comparing six months of crime data from 2011 and 2010. The bureau released its report last week.
Residential burglary, commercial burglary, auto burglary and auto theft make up the property crimes category; rape, murder, arson, armed robbery and aggravated battery are considered violent crimes.
Most of APD’s figures for violent crimes were not immediately available Wednesday, but Schultz provided a chart that showed a 5.5 percent overall drop.
The city has had 32 murders in 2011, with three days left in the year. That’s down from 49 last year and 56 in 2009.
For the first half of 2011, only residential burglary saw a slight increase from the January-June period in 2010. The rest of the property crime offenses were down significantly.
Schultz said the figures are only preliminary and could change by as much as 2 percent in either direction.
The chief cited as some of his department’s new crimefighting tools:
APD’s highest staffing level in history, with more than 1,100 officers.
Mayor Richard Berry’s property crimes initiative, which has used media and other forms of publicity to get citizens involved in catching criminals.
Internal changes at APD, including several specialized units and more modern crime scene analysis techniques.
The use of Web-based reporting and informationsharing among private businesses and law enforcement.
Ads in the Journal, billboards scattered around the city featuring property criminals and round-the-clock media coverage of crime have helped to educate the public - including criminals - about the modernized police techniques, Schultz said.
“Some of the videos we’ve released have even shown car thieves having conversations about whether the car they’re stealing is one of our bait cars,” he said. “I think criminals are asking themselves: ‘Is this really worth it?’ ”
APD’s preliminary figures showed an increase in certain property crimes in July, August and September, Schultz said.
“Non-forced entries, in particular, spiked in the summer and early fall,” he said. “Those are the open garage doors, the cars that aren’t locked, the purse sitting on a park bench. We’re not sure why that is, but as always, we will continue to analyze the heck out of it.”
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal