Chief: Violent crimes down in Manchester - The Union Leader

By PAUL FEELY
New Hampshire Union Leader
July 09. 2017 9:59PM

MANCHESTER — Overall, violent and property crimes committed in the Queen City in the first six months of 2017 are down compared to a year ago, according to preliminary statistics released Sunday by Police Chief Nick Willard.

An image of a chart tweeted by Willard Sunday morning compares the number of crimes committed in Manchester between January and June each year from 2013 to 2017. The data shows overall crime in the city has dropped 8 percent the first six months of 2017 compared to 2016.

“We review the data quarterly, and I thought it was important for people to see the numbers,” said Willard when asked Sunday why the chart was tweeted out.

Preliminary numbers show violent crime is down -9%, & property crime continues to plummet (it was down -25% last year) Proud of MPD's Finest http://pic.twitter.com/2vSjkwoELZ
— Chief Willard (@ChiefWillard) July 9, 2017

The number of violent crimes, which include homicide, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, has dropped 9 percent. Cases of robbery have decreased by 22 percent versus last year (107 to 83), while aggravated assault cases have decreased by 4 percent (206 to 198). Homicide cases remain the same, with one reported case over the first six months of both years.

Property crimes, including burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, are down 8 percent. According to Willard’s data, burglary has decreased 10 percent (245 to 220), while larceny and theft are down 11 percent (1,295 to 1,156) and arson down 25 percent (16 to 12 cases).

There are two exceptions in the statistics. The number of forcible rape cases in Manchester has increased 2 percent — from 46 incidents to 47.

The number of reported motor vehicle thefts is up 44 percent, from 72 reported thefts over the first half of 2016 to 104 vehicles reported stolen through June 30 this year.

Willard credits the overall downward trend to several initiatives put forth by his department, including predictive policing, which determines locations in the city to place officers on the street based on crime data.

City police increase the number of officers deployed to known high-crime areas during designated “peak” times of day, based on departmental data on when crimes are most likely to occur.

“Predictive policing allows us to prevent crimes from happening, instead of just respond to calls reporting them,” said Willard. “It not only allows officers to stop and catch criminals in the act, but also just having them visible in these areas has proven to be a deterrent.”

Willard also credited the number of officers he has on the street (237 as of March) and targeting known offenders with helping to reduce the amount of overall crime in the city.

“I commend Chief Willard and the members of his department for reducing crime in the city,” said Mayor Ted Gatsas. “I’m happy to see the overall numbers down over last year.”

pfeely@unionleader.com

Crime, law and justice Social issues Manchester

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