Fueled by an almost 50 percent decrease in burglaries last month compared to a year ago, reported crime in Pine Bluff dropped more than 33 percent in August, according to the police department’s monthly report.
The report indicated there were 421 crimes reported in August 2012, compared to 632 in August 2011, a decrease of 33.39 percent.
The drop was the eighth consecutive month that reported crimes have gone down and so far this year, stands at 15.12 percent less than for the first eight months of 2011. The report indicated that there have been 631 fewer crimes reported this year than there were last year.
During the monthly meeting of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee Tuesday afternoon, Alderman Irene Holcomb, chairman of the committee, told police Capt. Greg Shapiro that “some people will disagree with your statistics.”
“Mrs. Holcomb, there are some people out there who disagree with everything we do,” Shapiro replied.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
There were 87 burglaries reported last month, compared to 170 for August 2011. Reported thefts dropped from 250 in August 2011 to 157 last month while motor vehicle thefts increased from 16 to 18.
In terms of crimes against persons, aggravated assaults declined from 56*** in August 2011 to 28 last month, while simple assaults dropped from 128 last August to 116 last month.
Reported robberies increased slightly, from seven to 10, while rapes and attempted rapes doubled from two to four.
The police department report showed one murder in August of this year, two less than were reported in August 2011. So far this year, there have been 14 homicides inside the Pine Bluff city limits, according to statistics kept by The Commercial. That is one more than department figures indicate.
A prepared by Shapiro for the Public Safety Committee meeting showed that during the first eight months of this year, the police department responded to 37,147 total calls, compared to answering 38,593 calls for the same period a year ago.
Last month, the department handled 288 domestic disturbance calls, compared to 348 for August 2011.
A report from the department’s Vice and Narcotics unit showed that investigators served nine search warrants in August, seizing drugs valued at $17,842 and an additional $14,908 in cash.
There were 20 people arrested, all of them adults, and investigators seized five weapons and one vehicle. They also recovered $1,550 worth of stolen property.
Specifically, the report showed officers seized 690.7 grams of marijuana, five grams of cocaine, 4.4 grams of crack cocaine, 41.85 grams of methamphetamine, 191 ecstasy pills, two ounce of codeine and 116.5 pharmaceutical pills of various types.
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***This article has been updated from its original version to correct a number. Click here to view the correction notice.