Crime rates up after record-low year - Grosse Pointe News

CITY OF GROSSE POINTE — The City’s Public Safety Department was busy in 2017.

According to the annual Public Safety Report presented to council Monday, Feb. 12, crime, arrests, calls for service and total fire calls all increased in 2017.

Total crime in the City increased 27 percent from 2016 in 2017, to 278 total reported crimes.

However, the increase is slightly misleading. In 2016, Part I Index crimes, rated as the most serious by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were at an all-time low in the City and there has been an influx of identity theft and fraud in the Pointes, something out of the local police department’s control.

The 2017 Part I crime numbers were consistent with previous years, besides 2016, at 105, said Stephen Poloni, director of public safety.

“It (2016) was the lowest year on record at 88 (Part I index crimes),” said Poloni. “So, having a little bit of an increase wasn’t a shock to us.”

“Most of those (increases) came in two categories,” Poloni said. “We had six increases in larcenies and those were from vehicles and we had a few aggravated assaults this year, up five.”

The City also saw one more forcible sexual offense, one more robbery and two more arson offenses than in 2016.

Part II Index crimes, categorized as less severe crimes, also increased from 2016, rising to 173 from 131.

“One of the biggest things that you see is an increase that we anticipate will increase even more this year, is identity theft and fraud,” Poloni said.

According to the report, there was a 50 percent increase in fraud reports in 2017, and since Jan. 1, 2018, the City almost has surpassed the 2017 total.

The reason for such a dramatic increase in fraud is unclear, but according to Poloni, the cause could be last year’s massive credit information hack.

“Some people are speculating it is due to the (Equifax) breach,” Poloni said.

There also were slight increases in liquor violations and drunken driving arrests, according to the report. But, “nothing out of the ordinary,” Poloni said.

Last year also saw the most arrests the last five years. Overall arrests increased to 188, 33 percent higher than 2016’s 141 arrests and 42 percent higher than the five-year average of 132.

There were 341 fire calls in 2017, 75 more than 2016.

Poloni said, “58 of those were false alarms, actually only six dwelling fires and three commercial building fires in 2017.”

The total fire loss according to the report was $779,480, a significant decrease from more than $2.6 million in 2016, when there were seven dwelling fires and one commercial fire.

Ambulance runs, 202 in 2017, make up the majority of fire operations. According to the report, average response time for ambulance calls was approximately 4 minutes.

In total, public safety received 6,264 calls for service, a 10 percent increase from 2016, and the most the last five years by a large margin. On average, from 2013 to 2016, public safety received 5,262 calls per year.

“It looks like activity has been up a little bit,” Councilman Daniel Williams said. “I would encourage the public safety department … if there is something you need, please bring it to our attention so we can address it quickly.”

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