Violent crime declines, State Police report shows
By:Eric Schwarz
Crime in Manville went up
slightly from 1998 to 1999, while
crime in Hillsborough and Millstone dropped slightly, according to the State Police Uniform Crime Report released Tuesday.
In Manville, crime increased
by 4.7 percent, from 150 incidents
to 157 in that one-year period.
In Hillsborough, the crime
number decreased by 3.7 percent,
from 435 incidents to 419.
Crime in Somerset County dropped by 9 percent in 1999 compared with 6 percent in New Jersey as a whole
In Manville the number of violent crimes decreased from four
(one robbery and three aggravated
assaults) in 1998 to three in 1999
(one robbery and two aggravated
assaults).
The nonviolent crimes rose from
146 in 1998 to 154 in 1999.
Burglary held steady at 10 incidents reported. Larceny rose from
119 to 126, and motor vehicle theft from 17 reports in 1998 to 18 in 1999. Domestic violence also increased from 112 reported incidents to 120. Bias crimes dropped from two to zero.
Over in Hillsborough the number of
violent crimes increased from 14
in 1998 to 16 in 1999. The best-known incident was the Feb. 18, 1999, murder of David Wood. There were no murders in Hillsborough in 1998.
Three men have been charged
in Mr. Wood’s murder in a wooded area between Meadowbrook
Drive and Farm Road.
Christopher Flynn, Anthony
Leahey and Keith Descoteau, all of
911 Robin Road, still are awaiting trial.
Rapes reported in Hillsborough dropped from five to two, but reported cases of robbery rose from three to six, and aggravated assault rose from six counts in 1998 to seven in 1999.
Nonviolent crimes in Hillsborough, however, dropped from
421 reported incidents in 1998 to 403 in 1999.
Burglaries dropped from 104 reported incidents in 1998 to 101 in 1999; larceny, from 292 to 278; motor
vehicle theft, from 25 to 24; and bias crime from 8 reports to seven.
Arson rose, however, from one reported incident in 1998 to five in 1999, and domestic violence also increased, from 432 counts to
442.
Millstone, a .6-square mile borough to the south of Manville, is patrolled by the State Police. Six
crimes were reported in that borough in 1998 compared with five
in 1999. None of them were classified as violent.
The state reported two burglaries and four larcenies in 1998 in
Millstone, compared with four burglaries and one larceny in 1999.