Statistics reveal that crime continues to decline in the suburbs

Meanwhile, Philadelphia's crime numbers turned a statewide drop in crime into a slight increase. The city attributed that to record-keeping.

By Jere Downs
and Ralph Vigoda
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Continuing a trend of the last few years, overall crime in the four-county Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia decreased in 1998, according to statistics released yesterday by the Pennsylvania State Police.

The figures indicate that law enforcement has been particularly successful in combating burglary and quality-of-life crimes, such as petty theft and car theft, according to figures in the annual Uniform Crime Report.

Police also have cracked down on drunken drivers: Statewide, arrests for driving under the influence rose 10 percent to 40,704, the highest number since 1990, according to a state police spokesman.

"This is the type of crime that the more time you're out there looking for it, the more times you'll find it," said spokesman Jack J. Lewis. "We've had more federal funding available for things like sobriety checkpoints, and we've had troopers looking specifically for erratic driving."

The picture in the suburbs contrasted dramatically with Philadelphia, where reported crime rose 11 percent in 1998 from the previous year - an increase that city officials attribute to better record-keeping by police. Across Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia, crime fell 2 percent.

The surge in Philadelphia was enough to wipe out that decrease for the state as a whole, resulting in a slight increase in crime statewide.

"This year, with Philly's numbers being so much higher than in the past, it throws off the statewide statistics," Lewis said. "Hopefully, the statistics are more accurate. This will be the benchmark year."

Statewide, murder was down 12 percent, but the overall number of violent crimes grew 5 percent, including a 2 percent increase in reports of rape. Violent crime, including murder and rape, has fallen steadily for the last five years in Philadelphia's Pennsylvania suburbs; where there were increases, they were slight.

The largest contributor to the increase in violent crime statewide was additional aggravated assaults reported by Philadelphia. Philadelphia's total of 8,701 aggravated assaults in 1998, compared with 6,198 in 1997, pushed the state's total higher, accounting for most of a 13 percent increase.

There also were statewide increases in larceny (3 percent) and burglary (1 percent), which helped account for a 2 percent overall rise in property crimes. At the same time, robbery was down 3 percent and car theft dropped 4 percent across the state.

Philadelphia's crime figures - released in May by the FBI - showed that crime rose 11 percent in the city in 1998, compared with 1997. Elsewhere, crime in major American cities fell 7 percent.

Police Commissioner John F. Timoney said the increase was not a real rise in crime on the streets, but reflected a new effort by police to count every crime reported. For decades, police in the city have "downgraded" reports of crime - booking them as less serious offenses or not counting them at all.

The state police report yesterday did disclose, for the first time this year, Philadelphia figures for many lesser crimes. Overall, minor crimes, such as simple assaults and vandalism, jumped 31 percent from 1997 to 1998.

Simple assaults in the city nearly doubled, going from 9,538 in 1997, to 17,540 last year. Narcotics offenses went up by two-thirds, from 6,913 in 1997, to 11,370 last year.

The annual crime report is a compilation of statistics gathered by law-enforcement agencies and is designed to help officials adjust their efforts and resources.

While burglary fell slightly in all the suburban counties, except for a small increase in Delaware County, police made some of their most significant gains in preventing car theft. Car thefts fell, for instance, in most of Philadelphia's Pennsylvania suburban communities with malls. Statewide, 40,708 vehicles were stolen in 1998, the lowest total since 1985, according to state police.

Philadelphia-area officials say that drops in car theft, petty theft and burglary have been bolstered by a suburban public increasingly aware about locking their doors and automobiles at night.

Of course, statistics can be interpreted two ways. Take, for example, the car-theft rate in Upper Merion.

From 1993 through 1998, the township has led Montgomery County with an average rate of 16 cars stolen per thousand people, largely because the King of Prussia mall's parking lot - with a capacity for 13,000 vehicles - is a known target for thieves. But that rate does not reflect the more recent trend that car thefts fell substantially, from 434 in 1997 to 322 in 1998.

"I credit it to our cooperation with the auto theft task force out of the Belmont state police barracks," Upper Merion Police Lt. Robert Duber said. "Their goal is to penetrate the auto theft rings to get into the top of the organization. By no means have they eradicated auto theft, but they've made a real dent."

Similar to Upper Merion, Coatesville has led Chester County over the last five years, with an average of seven cars stolen per 1,000 residents. Yet the city also has noted a remarkable decrease in the number of cars stolen recently, from 120 in 1994 to 78 in 1997 to 48 last year.

Lower Merion Township, which borders Philadelphia, had one of the most significant drops in car theft: 394 in 1994, 345 in 1997, 145 in 1998.

On the flip side, Falls Township in Bucks County has averaged 184 car thefts a year for the last three years. In 1998 there were 269, and Chief Arnold Conoline acknowledges the problem.

"Three major arteries - Route 13, 1 and Lincoln Highway - dump into the township, we're five minutes from Trenton, and we've had problems with the West Trenton corridor," he said. "Eighty-five to 90 percent of the vehicles we've recovered have been in Trenton."

His department, he said, has taken numerous measures to address the crime.

"We sat down with Trenton authorities to address the problem," Conoline said. "We beefed up Town Watch meetings to educate the public about the Club [theft-deterrent device] and alarm systems. We sent out letters to apartment complexes advising residents what they can do. We brought in the state police task force."

Looking over the trends for a number of years shows primarily good news about violent crime in the four-county region. Such crime remains rare, and largely restricted to older, poorer communities. Even in those municipalities, there's good news. Reports of robbery in Chester city, which reached a high of 658 in 1994, have steadily dropped, to 313 last year.

Chester Police Commissioner Wendell N. Butler said that the city had made a concerted effort in the last three years to attack crime.

"For the first time in a decade we have over 100 officers," Butler said.

"I couldn't be more pleased to see where we've come since 1996."