End of the year crime statistics for 2013 spelled good news for Cherry Hill, as the township saw a decrease in both property crimes and crimes against people.
While the township did not have an overall crime index available, public information officer Richard Humes said offenses in both categories were down when compared to 2012. Property crimes dropped 4 percent and crimes against people went down 7 percent.
The only specific area where Cherry Hill saw an increase was shoplifting, which was up 8 percent. While a number of factors could be the cause of this increase, Humes said he believes the economy is a big reason.
One of the ways the police have gotten the public more actively involved in the investigation process with shoplifters is through social media. Cherry Hill Police will frequently post descriptions of suspects along with surveillance footage of shoplifting suspects. The public can find information on specific investigations and can send in tips through the contact section provided in each post.
“It does help in some way,” Humes said. “We also get calls from the public. They go onto our Facebook page and help us out a bit. I don’t think it’ll stop people from shoplifting, but it helps us get tips.”
Outside of shoplifting, most other category saw a substantial drop. Stolen automobiles were down 31 percent.
Domestic violence, assault and robberies saw a collective drop of 5.5 percent. Robberies alone had a 20 percent decrease from the previous year.
The New Jersey State Police’s Uniform Crime Report paints a similar picture of the township in its statistics. While Cherry Hill has not yet sent in statistics for the month of December, the last report had just 2,134 crime incidents through November. This comes out to an average of 194 crimes per month, a large drop from about 227 crimes per month in 2012.
The number from the Uniform Crime Report showed a different trend than the past few years for the township. Last year was the first time the township averaged fewer than 200 crimes per month since 2010.
Humes included some statistics the Uniform Crime Report doesn’t include. According to the police department’s statistics, drug offenses were up 44 percent and DUI offenses had an uptick of 7 percent.
Humes said neither of these increases is necessarily due to an increase in drug activity or drunk driving.
He cites the ability of the township’s officers to conduct thorough motor vehicle stops and their investigation abilities in the increase.
“We have a lot of proactive officers out there getting into motor vehicle stops and pedestrian stops and talking to people,” he said.
Humes said a number of these offenses are on-view arrests where the officer will see evidence of illegal substances.
Humes also said the township has been able to increase the number of officers on patrol thanks to grants from the state. New Jersey issued grants to the township to help pay for extra officers to crack down on DUI offenses, especially during the holidays.
