JERSEY CITY — Despite the recent rise in murders in Jersey City — with 10 young men under 25 murdered in that city last year — the city announced Friday that overall, crime has dropped to a 30-year low.
They noted that last year, there were 800 cars stolen, which is a whopping 309 fewer than in 2008, for a 27.9 percent decrease. This is also way down from 1990, when 5,030 cars were stolen.
Violent crimes, including homicide, robbery, rape, and aggravated assault, dropped 15.6 percent in 2009 from the year before. Among those categories, robberies dropped 30.4 percent.
There were 45 “confirmed incidents” of rape, which the police and City Hall said was a 10 percent drop.
In non-violent crime, there was a 19.9 percent drop. There were 1,393 reported burglaries, which is 472 fewer than the year before.
“We’ve been able to analyze crime trends more effectively since the implementation of Comstat in 2005,” said Police Chief Tom Comey. “I think we are on the right course when you have significant crime decreases in most of the violent crime categories and double-digit drops in all of the non-violent crime categories despite the troubling economy.”
They are also working on more “intelligence-based policing initiatives,” Comey said, referring to Operation Vest I and Vest II, in which dozens of violent offenders with gang and drug-operation ties were arrested in evening and pre-dawn sweeps last year.
They noted that the only category seeing an increase in the city was homicide. Cases were up to 28 from 26 the previous year, as noted in a recent Reporter article available here.
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