Brick's Crime Rate Falls In 2015: State Police

BRICK, NJ — Crime in Brick Township decreased in 2015, bucking numbers statewide that show a rise, according to statistics released by New Jersey State Police last week.

The numbers released by the state police, and reported last September for 2015, the most recent year available, in the annual release of the FBI Uniform Crime Report, show decreases since 2011 in violent crimes with the lone exception of rape.

The numbers of rapes reported in 2015 rose to 12 from two in 2014. That increase in part reflects a change in the way agencies report rape. In 2013, the FBI definition of rape was revised to apply it to anyone, not just females, and to cover any penetration — oral, vaginal or anal — committed without consent of the victim.

Prior to 2013, the FBI definition of rape was "The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will."

Brick Police Chief James Riccio said the increase in reports does not reflect a rash of attacks on women by strangers. Instead, date rapes and sexual assaults of children by relatives were responsible for the rape numbers, he said.

In Brick, violent crimes have decreased 24 percent since 2011, when the township reported 100 violent crimes. The 76 reported for 2015 is the first decrease since 2012, when the number dropped to 81. Robberies fell dramatically, from 27 in 2014 to just nine in 2015. Aggravated assaults decreased slightly, from 59 in 2014 to 55 in 2015, and for the first time in two years there were no murders or manslaughter cases reported in Brick.

Property crimes in Brick have fallen every year since 2011, according the crime reports. Larcenies and thefts, which make up the bulk of the property crimes, had climbed in 2014 to 941 from 911 reported in 2013. But in 2015 the number of larcenies and thefts tumbled to 770, an 18.1 percent decrease. Burglaries fell 28.7 percent, from 202 in 2014 to 144 in 2015. Motor vehicle thefts, which the FBI said have risen nationally, fell from 26 in 2014 to 16 in 2015 in Brick, according to the reports.

Overall, New Jersey's murder rate has risen while violent crime has dipped slightly in recent years, according to the state attorney general's office. The 2015 report, using data from the most recent year available, shows that violent crime decreased 1 percent, from 23,004 to 22,899, between 2014 and 2015 while murder increased 4 percent from 354 to 369, the office said.

Image via Shutterstock