Crime is down in Niagara Falls during the first eight months of 2009.
But not by much.
In the words of Falls police Superintendent John Chella, Cataract City cops have been on a “roller coaster ride” in fighting crime this year. The city’s top cop says everything from falling copper prices to the release and arrest of various criminals has impacted the efforts of police.
“In 2008, copper thefts killed us,” Chella said. “But car break-ins were down because a lot of our perpetrators were in jail. This year, copper went down in price and the perps got out and we got slammed with car break-ins. There’s always a situation you gotta deal with.”
Crime statistics given to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services last week show that year to date, so-called Tier 1 crimes, are down .03 percent. Tier 1 crimes include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.
Despite a better than 14 percent drop in robberies, overall violent crime is up so far this year, 2.6 percent. Rapes are up just over 6 percent, while violent assaults, many tied to domestic violence, have climbed better than 8 percent.
Overall property crimes are down 0.02 percent, led by an almost 34 percent drop in stolen cars. However, a dramatic spike in thefts from cars over the summer months has pushed larcenies up by 6.5 percent.
Thefts from cars appear to be spiking again, according to a look at recent police reports.
“In 2007, we had a great year and (overall) crime was down 7.5 percent,” Chella said. “In 2008, we were up 4 percent. We’re told the state 2007 was a year we can try to match, but we’ll take the difference between 2007 and 2008 to measure 2009. We’ve declined (through the end of August) and we’re confident September numbers (when they are available) we be even better.”
Chella said he has been most encouraged by declines in the numbers of robberies and burglaries, disappointed with higher numbers of assaults and thefts.
“I’m not painting a rosy picture,” he said, “We’ve got our challenges. We’re doing better but not as well as I hoped.”
Chella said targeted details that led to several arrests are having an impact on car break-ins and those numbers are coming down. He said he believed continued aggressive intervention in domestic violence cases would bring the number of assaults down as well.
Summing it all up Chella said, “We need to reduce the number of assaults, we need to continue the (recent) decline in auto break-ins.”
Crime
NIAGARA FALLS: Crime down slightly in ’09
Police hope slight decline continues for remainder of the year
- Crime
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Marijuana mystery on Michigan Avenue solved
The mystery surrounding a Michigan Avenue marijuana grow house has been solved.
And a Falls man has been charged with running the pot farm that was found there in July. -
Crack dealer taken down on Orleans Avenue
Falls Narcotics Division detectives took down an Orleans Avenue crack dealer, literally, on Tuesday.
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Niagara woman is fooled by ‘phisher’
Beverley Porter was taking a nap one day last week when her phone rang.
The scammer at the other end of the line had gotten lucky. After most likely making random calls to numbers in the 716 area code, he was able to catch the Town of Niagara woman when she was groggy, and slightly medicated from a minor surgical procedure earlier in the day. -
BLOTTER: Police reports published Feb. 8
A Falls man was arrested after a domestic incident in the 2200 block of LaSalle Avenue at 7:30 a.m. Monday.
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BLOTTER: Police reports published Feb. 7
A Falls man was arrested on drunken driving and other charges after a traffic stop in the 400 block of Main Street at 5:20 a.m. Friday.
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BLOTTER: Police reports published Feb. 6
Falls police had nothing new to report Sunday in the case of a missing 67-year-old LaSalle woman.
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Nightclub stabbing investigated in Lockport
Lockport Police are investigating the stabbing of a man at a nightclub early Sunday morning.
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Horse in ’bad shape’ seized from Somerset property
Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Carmen Road Saturday afternoon after a horse was found laying in a ditch without any restraints or supervision.
The person that found the horse tied it up, brought it some apple carrots and water and called police. They said it appeared the animal was malnourished and emaciated. -
Falls police looking for missing woman
Police are searching for a 67-year-old LaSalle woman who went missing Friday.
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BLOTTER: Police reports published Feb. 5
Howard C. Irish, 55, 617 18th St., lower apartment, was charged with petit larceny and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
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