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Violent crime drops in Bergen County

PUBLIC SAFETY: Bergen County has gotten safer from last year to this, led by two very different municipalities, Englewood and Ridgewood.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot File Photo
Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot
Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot

Englewood police reported a dramatic reduction in violent crime, from 65 for the six months of 2013 to 38 for the first six months of this year — part of an overall reduction in violent and property crime throughout the county.

A huge chunk of that drop comes from a reduction in the number of weapons-involved assaults (including hands), from 44 to 18, according to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Report for January-June of last year compared with the same period in 2014.

In the non-violent category, burglaries in Englewood also fell significantly — from 58 for the first six months of last year to 35 for January-June 2014. On the flip side, thefts shot up from 129 to 179.

Ridgewood improved significantly in three major categories: 

  • Simple assaults plummeted from 58 to 25;
  • Burglaries dropped from 22 to 12;
  • Thefts fell from 75 to 56.

ASSAULTS

Simple assaults were down in neighboring towns:

  • Dumont went from 53 to 37 and Bergenfield from 31 to 7.
  • Cliffside Park went from 125 to 91, while Fairview went from 58 to 38.
  • Saddle Brook went from 53 to 46 and Fair Lawn from 68 to 48.

Simple assaults also dropped in:

  • Teaneck, from 110 to 91;
  • Lyndhurst, 57 to 36;
  • Paramus, 70 to 58;
  • Walllington, 25-15.

BURGLARIES/THEFTS:

With all of its malls, Paramus ordinarily has a high number of thefts, but those numbers dropped from 621 for January-June in 2013 to the first six months of this year. Paramus also went from 18 violent crimes to half that this year.

Yet Paramus also had more than double the number of burglaries for the first six months of this year versus last: 13 to 27.

Cliffside Park saw burglaries dip from 32 to 11. Thefts, however, increased from 84 to 106.

North Arlington had an even greater burglary drop, from 30 to 5. Thefts were down, as well, from 70 to 62. 

Elmwood Park also reported a drop in burglaries, from 39 to 21. Thefts were up, 111-136.

The same was true in Fair Lawn, where burglaries went from 26 to 16 and reported thefts increased from 111 to 137.

Lodi, on the other hand, saw a drop from 54 to 28 burglaries and from 169 to 136 thefts.

Violent crime increased in Lodi, however, from 15 to 26, half of them robberies. There were also two murders there the first six months of this year.

Reported thefts decreased in Edgewater, from 97 to 76, as well as in Glen Rock, from 42 to 26. Palisades Park reported drops in both burglaries (17 to 11) and thefts (41 to 27).

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FIND YOUR TOWN: New Jersey State Police UCR

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BY THE NUMBERS

Both this year and last, no violent crime was reported from January to June in Alpine, Emerson and Harrington Park, Haworth, Ho-Ho-Kus, Old Tappan, Waldwick, Washington Township and Wyckoff.

As always, there are statistical blips.

Garfield didn’t have a single armed robbery with a gun the first six months of last year. It had 7 from this past January to June.

Over the same periods, burglaries reported in Garfield decreased, from 69 to 41, as did thefts, from 274 to 226.

The number of stolen cars, however, went from six to 20.

Meanwhile in Ridgefield, the number of thefts dropped from 26 to 6. In Ridgefield Park, simple assaults doubled from 10 to 20.

Hackensack is a mixed bag. Although robberies dropped from 18 to 6, weapons-related assaults went from 33 to 44. Simple assaults also climbed, from 157 to 182.

At the same time, property crimes plummeted in Hackensack: Burglaries dropped from 34 to 16 and thefts from 345 to 283.

 

 

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