2016 FBI Crime Report: Rises In Clark, Declines In Garwood

CLARK-GARWOOD, NJ — Crime rose slightly for Clark, while it went down for Garwood in 2016, according to data released by the FBI on Monday.

The information comes from the FBI’s annual report Crime in the United States. The publication is a statistical compilation of offense, arrest, and police employee data reported by law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, according to the FBI.

Violent crimes in Clark — robberies, aggravated assault, rape, murder and manslaughter — rose slightly overall to 4 total in 2016, according to the reports. That is up from 1 reported in 2015 and 4 reported in 2014.

In 2016, the violent crimes broke down to 1 robbery and 3 aggravated assaults versus in 2015 with 1 aggravated assault and 2014 with 4 aggravated assaults.

In Garwood, 1 violent crime was reported in 2016 down from 5 in both 2015 and 2014. All of the violent crimes were aggravated assaults.

Watch: Violent Crime In The US Increased For The 2nd Year In A Row Last Year

Along with violent crimes, property crimes - such as larcenies and burglaries also rose in Clark but went down overall in Garwood.

For Clark: There were 177 property crimes total reported in 2016, up from 153 in 2015. Thefts and larcenies, which make up the bulk of the property crimes, rose slightly from 140 in 2015 to 169 in 2016. There were 131 thefts/larcenies reported in 2014, according to FBI data.

Burglaries, which had risen to 12 in 2015 from 1 in 2014, went down to 2 in 2016.

Motor vehicle thefts rose from 5 in 2014 t0 1 in 2015 to 6 in 2016, according to the data.

For Garwood: There were 65 property crimes total reported in 2016, down from 84 in 2015. Thefts and larcenies, which make up the bulk of the property crimes, declined from 79 in 2015 to 54 in 2016. There were 74 thefts/larcenies reported in 2014, according to FBI data.

Burglaries continued to rise from 3 in 2014 to 5 in 2015 to 11 in 2016.

Motor vehicle thefts stayed the same with 0 for both 2016 and 2015, according to the data. There were 4 reported in 2014.

Nationally, the FBI said the 2016 statistics showed an increase in the estimated number of violent crimes, with a 4.1 percent rise when compared with 2015 data. Nationally, property crimes dropped 1.3 percent.

The 2016 statistics show the estimated rate of violent crime was 386.3 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants nationally, and the estimated rate of property crime was 2,450.7 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. The violent crime rate rose 3.4 percent compared with the 2015 rate, and the property crime rate declined 2.0 percent.

Clark's population for 2016 is listed at 15,609, according to the report, an increase of 3 residents from 2015. While Garwood's population for 2016 is 4,352, according to the report, an decrease 188 of residents from 2015.

The UCR Program report for 2016 included information from 16,782 agencies across the country, out of 18,481 city, county, university and college, state, tribal, and federal agencies eligible to participate, the FBI said.

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