Borough Crime Down in 2013 So Far

May 2013 was a quiet month for the Chatham Borough Police Department—a very quiet month, according to the New Jersey State Police, with no robberies, no assaults. no burglaries, no larcenies and no motor vehicle thefts reported.

Chatham Borough is pretty safe most of the time anyway, so even one small change can make a difference. For example, in May 2012 there was one burglary by forcible entry reported in the borough and one report of larceny.

Comparatively, that's a drop of 100 percent in May 2013 over the same month last year.

It's all part of the Unified Crime Report, a collection of law enforcement data recorded by the state police from information they receive from local police departments. Statistics were updated on June 14 to include May cime reports.

The trend, though, is not limited only to May 2013. So far this year there has been an overall drop in crime of 20.8 percent over the same five-month period in 2012. That percentage represents a difference of five incidents, from 24 between January and May 2012 to 19 so far this year.

The biggest increase is in burglaries with unlawful entrance, which had a 300 percent increase year to date over 2012. That's an increase from one incident in those five months in 2012 to four in 2013.

Simple assaults, that is, assaults with hands, fists or feet dropped by 50 percent, from four reported incidents in 2012 to two so far this year. Assaults by knife or cutting instruments fell from one to none this year, as did robberies where a knife or cutting instrument was used.

Larceny incidents have fallen from 13 reported instances in 2012 to eight so far this year.

Of those 19 total incidents, state police say nine have been cleared, leaving 10, or 52.6 percent, still open. Most of those are nonviolent crimes or part of the overall crime index. According to state police, 100 percent of violent crimes--one whole incident--have been cleared this year.

Look in the photos for a snapshot from the Unified Crime Report, and check back next month to see if the trend continues. We'll also check on how Chatham Township Police have fared so far this year soon.