Milford Crime Statistics

Incidents of violent and property crime decreased 7.5 percent overall last year, to 1,638 incidents, according to statistics released by the and reported to the FBI.

Crime increased in one-quarter of the 32 categories of serious crime tracked by federal authorities, while it fell or remained the same in three-quarters.

Over a longer time span, crime reports have both increased and decreased, depending on the category, and the year. Car theft, for example, climbed from 18 in 2004 to a peak in 2007 at 41 cars reported stolen, and has fallen since to 28.

Other categories have shown considerable growth, including larcenies — the most frequently reported serious crime — which grew from 232 in 2004 to 484 in 2008, before falling slightly to 435 last year.

[Editor's Note: click on the attached PDF to review all of the statistics.]

Larcenies — a category that includes thefts, shoplifting and pickpocketing — covers crimes reported in homes as well as businesses, said Thomas O'Loughlin, Milford police chief, but most of the incidents relate to businesses. He attributed the increased reporting to more vigilant reporting by retailers, and an increased number of retail stores in Milford.

"It's a combination of additional retail stores, and retailers taking a stance that they're going to prosecute."

According to the eight years of data released to the media by Milford police, the single worst year for crime in Milford was 2010. Several types of crimes peaked that year, including robberies, burglary/breaking and entering, intimidation, counterfeiting, weapons violations and drunkenness.

Milford Police are required to report incidents of crime in 32 categories, as determined by the FBI. The nine most serious crimes, called Part I crimes, are murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, arson, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. In this collection, Milford had 663 incidents reported last year, a decline from a seven-year peak of 757, in 2010.

Another series of crimes — Part II crimes — are considered less violent, or less serious, and also are reported each year to federal authorities. This grouping includes crimes such as simple assault, intimidation, drug and narcotics violations and DUIs.

The FBI reports track incidents, not arrests or convictions, O'Loughlin said. The information is a "snapshot" he said, which allows police to review what is happening year to year. O'Loughlin said he concentrates on two-year comparisons, the two most recent years, to draw inferences about what might be causing spikes or decreases.

"The value of categorizing is you get a snapshot in real time," he said.

The categories, however, also impose limits.

Because the FBI sets the categories, not every crime is reported to them as part of the annual report. The most notorious crime in Milford in 2011, the death of motorcyclist is not included among the statistics, because it was classified as a vehicular death, which is not a crime tracked by the FBI, O'Loughlin said.

At the time of Denice's death, it was not investigated as a murder, although a grand jury later strengthened the charges against the man arrested in the incident to second-degree murder. Police can go back and amend the FBI reports, and may do so if the , O'Loughlin noted.

O'Loughlin said he does not mine the data for trends over several years, in part because the FBI discourages the practice. The data shows the reports of crimes go up and down over time, O'Loughlin said, without a clear pattern.

"Analytically, you're not going to get a good analysis," he said.

Burglaries/breaking and entering, for example, rose from 69 in 2004 to 119 in 2006, before hitting a six-year low of 50 in 2009. The number then flew up to 132 in 2010, before declining slightly to 96 last year.

According to a two-year comparison, from 2010 to last year:

Among the categories with significant increases: kidnapping and/or abductions, which rose to 6 reported incidents in 2011; simple assault, which nearly doubled, to 195 reported cases; swindling, which nearly doubled to 72 incidents, and trespassing, which rose from 1 to 10 incidents.

Other types of crime, which showed smaller increases, were stolen property offenses, statuatory rape, pornography offenses and bad checks.