Why 'Astounding' Number of Burglaries is Good News in Birmingham

Birmingham Chief of Police Donald A. Studt recently released his annual report:

I would like to assure the citizens of Birmingham that the men and women of the Birmingham Police Department are committed to serving this community in excellence and believe in our mission statement which reads:

“The Birmingham Police Department is committed to fairness, compassion, and excellence in providing services sensitive to the priorities and needs of the community; the protection of life and property, the apprehension of criminal perpetrators, and the prevention of crime in accordance with the law.”

In 2014, we continued to seek ways to enhance services while remaining fiscally sound. The retirement of our K-9 officer in 2014 prompted us to analyze the program and we have concluded not to fund this operation. We have expanded our cooperative efforts by assigning one officer to a multijurisdictional special investigative unit.

This group is comprised of investigators from the Troy, Auburn Hills, Bloomfield Township, and Birmingham Police Departments. The unit will concentrate on serial crimes that cross jurisdictional boundaries such as burglary, larceny from auto, credit card frauds, armed robbery and assault.

This will add to our existing inter-local agreements which include Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement (NET), Major Case Assistance Team (MCAT), South Oakland Tactical Unit, and our combined 9-1-1 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) with Beverly Hills for police / fire / EMS dispatch.

The city continues to be a regional destination, hosting 21 special events for which the department provided extra officers for crowd control and traffic safety. These range from one day events to week long street closures in the downtown including the “longest one day event” of the year, the Woodward Dream Cruise. We spent approximately $185,000 utilizing drug forfeiture funds to enhance our video camera system, replacing the server with high definition digital equipment, upgraded 32 cameras, and installed an improved wireless network for all of the remote cameras located throughout the city and in three parks.

The chart below summarizes this report delineating calls for service, major crime categories, and arrest categories. Included is data from 25 and 50 years ago for comparison purposes. Of note are the larceny and burglary reports which are significantly down.

Larceny reports are down to 156 compared to 237 in 2012, 524 in 1989 and 680 in 1964. Many of these 156 cases originate from items taken from unlocked vehicles and garages. The reduction appears to be from increased vigilance on the part of the public.

There were 26 burglaries reported to the department in 2014. (64 in 2012 / 139 in 1989). This number is, frankly, astounding particularly in light of the fact that there are over 10,000 residential, commercial, industrial properties listed in the city.

I would like to thank the men and women of the department and the many volunteers comprising the police auxiliary unit for their many efforts throughout the year. Please contact the Birmingham Police Department at (248) 530-1870 or visit our website at http://bhamgov.org

– Donald A. Studt, Chief of Police

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