Continuing a decade-long trend, major crime remained nearly flat in Hoboken and fell in many categories last year, according to data provided by the Hoboken Police Department to state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
From 2013 to 2014, the total number of index crimes reported in Hoboken – rape, murder, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft –rose slightly from 1,122 to 1,182, a 5.3 percent increase. The overall crime rate rose from 21.3 index crimes per 1,000 residents in 2013 to 22.5 last year, based on the most recent U.S. Census estimate for Hoboken’s population.
By comparison, the 2014 overall crime rate was 21.8 per 1,000 in Jersey City and 39.4 in Newark, based on the state police reports and census population estimates.
More recent data from Hoboken police covering the first three months of 2015 showed a slight drop in crime compared to the same period last year. From January to March 2015, the overall crime rate was 4.77 per 1,000 residents, down from 5.43 in the beginning of 2014.
“Hoboken is an incredibly safe community thanks to the work of the dedicated members of the Hoboken Police Department,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer in a statement.
“Hoboken saw a decrease in crime in every category compared to the first quarter of 2014.” – Mayor Dawn Zimmer
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Hoboken Police Lt. James Marnell, commander of the Bureau of Identification, cautioned that the first quarter numbers for 2015 were preliminary and not necessarily representative of long-term trends since they were based on a smaller sample size.
Hoboken saw three different police chiefs over the course of 2014. After Chief Anthony Falco retired at the end of June, Edelmiro Garcia served as interim chief until Ferrante took over in December.
Homicide and rape
Hoboken’s violent crime rate held steady in 2014, falling negligibly from 2.89 crimes per 1,000 residents in 2013 to 2.83 last year. In total, Hoboken has 149 reported instances of violent crime – murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault – last year.
From January through March 2015, the violent crime rate was a mere 0.859 per 1,000 residents, an 18.9 percent reduction compared to the same period in 2014.
No homicides have been reported in Hoboken since September 2013, when homeless man Ralph Eric Santiago was found with his head lodged between two fence pickets after being attacked by a stranger. A 14-year-old Jersey City resident pled guilty to Santiago’s murder last year and was sentenced to six years in a juvenile correctional facility.
The number of reported rapes in Hoboken fell for the second straight year, from 11 in 2012 to two in 2014. For federal purposes, rape is defined as “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”
According to Marnell, for 2015 and beyond, the FBI has adopted a clearer and more expansive classification of rape to be used by reporting agencies – any non-consenual penetration of another person with any body part or object. However, no rapes have been reported yet in Hoboken under the new definition.
Hoboken’s 2014 crime report does not indicate any arrests or convictions related to the two rapes reported last year, but Marnell emphasized that the investigation and prosecution of sexual offenses is handled almost completely by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, which does not have a set policy of updating the Hoboken police on the status of such cases.
“We receive the complaint initially, ask very few questions designed to identify what occurred, and then the Prosecutor’s Office takes over the investigation,” said Marnell.
Other violent crime data for 2014 did not point to a clear trend. Robberies, which are defined as thefts that involve force or the threat of force or placing a victim in fear, increased modestly from 47 to 55, a 17 percent increase, with most of the growth coming from strong arm robberies. According to Marnell, the latter category is expansive enough to include a shoplifter pushing a security guard while trying to flee a store.
Meanwhile, aggravated assault reports fell from 98 in 2013 to 92 last year, and simple assault fell from 320 to 288, a 10 percent decrease. All attacks involving weapons are classified as aggravated assaults, but assaults utilizing hands or feet only gain that label if they involve an injury bad enough to cause temporary or permanent loss of use of a body part.
Taking what they can
For the third year in a row, larcenies saw the largest numerical increase of any reported category of major crime in Hoboken. The total number of larcenies jumped from 629 in 2011 to 861 last year, a 27 percent increase.
This mini crime wave within a wash of static but promising numbers reflects the city’s changing demographics. According to Marnell, the items most targeted for theft are among the favorites of the young and affluent residents of Hoboken – bicycles and packages ordered from online retailers.
A larceny is defined by the FBI as the unlawful taking of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. The category includes shoplifting and motor vehicle break-ins.
The majority of bicycle and package thefts in Hoboken are burglaries, not larcenies, because they involve unlawful entry into a building or structure, but Marnell said detectives often don’t have the evidence to classify the crimes as such when they are initially reported.
“If we have videotape, a witness, something of that nature, or we catch the person in the act, then it would be a burglary,” Marnell explained. Otherwise, the possession of illicitly obtained goods is enough to report a larceny alone.
The number of unlawful entry burglaries reported in Hoboken also rose 16.4 percent last year, from 61 to 71.
Meanwhile, motor vehicle thefts in Hoboken continued their historic decline, falling 27 percent from 62 in 2013 to 45 last year. By comparison, 714 motor vehicles were reported stolen in Hoboken in 1991, the highest mark in the last thirty years (when Marnell was a rookie cop around twenty-five years ago, he said nearly two cars were reported stolen per day on average).
Marnell was at a loss to explain the steady decline of grand theft auto in Hoboken. However, the data closely matches nationwide trends for the crime over the same period, and various advances in technology, from car alarms to GPS trackers and ignition immobilizers that prevent hotwiring a car have been credited with filtering out all but the most committed car thieves.
Annual reports on the number of crimes committed in Hoboken can be found on the State of New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety website, at http://www.njsp.org/info/ucr_currentdata.html.
Carlo Davis may be reached at cdavis@hudsonreporter.com.