RIVERSIDE POLICE CRIME INDEX CONFIRMED BY STATE POLICE
The Riverside Police Department is pleased to announce that the Illinois State Police crime index report entitled Crime in Illinois 2006 has confirmed that overall crime in Riverside dropped in 2006 by 11.8 %. The report is a statistical synopsis of all crimes that are mandated to be reported to the Illinois State Police for the 2006 calendar year. Some of the highlights of this report include:
· Overall Crime Index down 11.8% from 2005
· Motor vehicle theft down 14.3%
· Thefts down 32.1%
· Total drug arrest down 26%
Assistant Chief Tom Weitzel stated, "I am very proud of the hard work that the patrol force, first line supervisors, and the detective have displayed in their commitment to high visibility police work that certainly contributed to the overall reduction in the village crime rate."
Nice to see the drop in overall crime and theft. But I wonder about the total drug arrests being down in 2006. I have no doubt they were, but I seem to remember quite a few drug arrests in town in 2007, so the numbers will likely increase in 2007 when the report is released in 2008. Will that be a good or bad thing, and does that make a decrease in arrests in 2006 a good or bad thing?
Here's a Landmark article that mentions two of the higher profile busts in 2007:
http://rblandmark.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=2914&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&S=1