Norwalk Violent Crimes Down in 2010, Early 2011

Led by a steep drop in aggravated assaults and robberies, violent crime in Norwalk went down by a fifth in 2010 and continued dropping in the first half of 2011, compared with the year before.

Property crimes were up somewhat in 2010, led by an increase in larcenies, which rose from 1,269 in 2009 to 1,379 in 2010. Similar figures for the first half of 2011 were unavailable from the Norwalk Police Department, although the number of burglaries has been increasing somewhat.

Police Chief Harry W. Rilling said that while "crime is driven by many factors, and it's hard to identify cause and effect," he thinks one of the factors in driving down the number of crimes is the department's "street teams" of patrolling officers, some from the special services division and some from the patrol division.

"To date, this year, they have made 143 arrests and taken numerous firearms off the streets," Rilling said.

were made by street teams, Rilling said.

"We put them out during the hours and days of the week when things are more likely to happen," he said. And the teams go where crimes are more likely to happen, based on prior analysis, he said.

Crime statistics released by the FBI showed fewer violent crimes in the city. The total number went from 425 in 2009 to 343 last year—a drop of 20 percent.

Rilling on Tuesday released figures for violent crimes during the first half of 2011, which show the percentage down by 12 percent, from 196 in the first half of 2010 to 171 in the first half of this year.

Table 1: Violent crimes in Norwalk

Violent

Crime

Murder/

Manslaughter

Forcible

Rape

Aggravated

Assault

425

1

10

257

343

6

12

196

196

3

9

99

Jan-June 2011

171

2

11

100

(Sources for both tables: FBI "Uniform Crime Reports" statistics for 2009 and for 2010; Norwalk Police Department statistics for the first half of 2010 and 2011, released Tuesday by Rilling.)

Year-to-year differences in relatively rare crimes, such as murder or forcible rape, say little about the crime situation because chance plays a role in how many get committed each year, Rilling said.

Statistics on robberies and aggravated assault, along with the overall number of violent crimes in Norwalk clearly show a decrease over time, he said. Not only did the number of robberies fall by 28 from 2009 to 2010, bringing the number down to 129 (a decline of 17.8 percent) but the number of assaults fell from 257 to 196, a drop of 61 (a decline of 23.7 percent).

Table 2: Property crimes in Norwalk

Property

Crimes

Larceny/

Theft

Motor

Vehicle

Theft

1,269

203

1,379

176

n/a

78

Jan-June 2011

n/a

71

The number of property crimes went up somewhat (5.2 percent) from 2009 to 2010, and the number of burglaries continued to slowly increase (by 2.9 percent). Motor vehicle thefts were down by 13.3 percent from 2009 to 2010, with 27 fewer incidents, and they continued a decline in the first half of 2011 (with seven fewer than the same period in 2011, a drop of 9 percent) .

Rilling blamed the rising number of burglaries and larcenies on the state of the economy, since more people are unemployed or have less money. "In this economy we would expect property crimes to increase," he said.

Mayor Richard A. Moccia said the crime statistics are welcome news. The news is especially welcome for him in an election year.

"My opponent [Town Clerk Andrew Garfunkel] has claimed that crime is rampant," Moccia said. "I've said all along we've had some issues, but police are addressing it."

Rilling said: "We've seen some violent incidents take place, just like in any city. I think most people feel very safe in Norwalk."