Jamesburg’s reported
crime drops significantly
Total crime has decreased
56 percent over
15-year period
JAMESBURG — The state crime figures speak for themselves — the borough has become a safer place to live.
The State Police Uniform Crime Report released the figures for 1999 in August and the borough seems to be following the state trend of decreased crime.
According to the report, the borough saw a 24 percent decrease in total crime from 1998-99, with the number of reported incidents dropping from 82 to 62.
Jamesburg saw an even bigger decrease in total crime over a 15-year period, from 1985 to 1999. During that time, total reported crimes fell 56 percent, from 141 to 62.
"I would like to attribute the reduction in crime to our department, our proactive status and the fact that we have a younger department, and a larger department than a few years ago," Police Chief David Lester said.
"I would like to take the credit; however, the statistics are reflective of the society overall," he said.
He pointed to several statistics, such as the decrease in crime nationally and the low unemployment rate across the state.
"For the most part, people are working and earning money," Lester said. "In my experience, there is a correlation between unemployment and certain crimes."
Contributing to the decrease in total crime in the borough are noticeable drops in certain crimes.
For example, from 1998-99 reported nonviolent crimes fell almost 20 percent, from 66 to 53. Over the past 15 years, nonviolent crimes fell almost 59 percent, from 127 to 53.
In addition, larceny dropped almost 11 percent from 1998-99, with reported incidents decreasing from 46 to 41, and from 1985 to 1999, the number of reported larcenies fell almost 44 percent, from 73 to 41.
However, the borough experienced the biggest decrease in burglaries. From 1998-99, the number of reported burglaries dropped 47 percent, from 17 to 9. Even more noticeable, over a 15-year period the number of reported burglaries decreased almost 76 percent, from 37 to 9.
"We just now have an 11th officer so the police force has been augmented by 10 percent in the past year," Lester said. "I would like to think that there is a direct correlation between the department size and our ability to do our job."
As for this year, Lester said the police department has written as many tickets in the first six or seven months as it did for all of 1999.
In addition, the amount of fines the municipal court has collected in the first half of this year equals all of last year, he added.
— Melissa Kress

