No Surprise: Maplewood Sees Rise in Burglaries, Crime Rate in 2010

The Maplewood police released preliminary crime statistics for 2010 today and the numbers are nothing surprising to Maplewood residents who have been following the news this year. An overall 9.7% increase in crime for 2010 over 2009 is mostly attributable to an increase in burglaries. However, the chief of police said that the increase in the crime rate was matched and surpassed by a 25% increase in arrests made.

Reported burglaries jumped from 68 in 2009 to 106 in 2010, in a wave that struck all areas of town from spring through fall — including , the and .

Last fall, Maplewood Police Chief Robert Cimino had said that the — some suspects who were arrested were local teenagers, others were career criminals. Maplewood Police had increased surveillance and patrols in certain neighborhoods in response to the burglaries. By the end of the year, Cimino said that crime rates were trending downward.

And murders rose from 0 to 2, as two high profile crimes shook Maplewood. in his house on Henry Place in March. at Jacoby Street and Boyden Avenue in September. Suspects in both cases have been and . The Essex County Prosecutor's Office is investigating both murders as potential bias crimes based on sexual orientation and identity.

While burglaries and murder rose, other crime rates remained static, rose slightly or fell slightly. Assault rose from 15 to 16, Arson remained at 2, Larceny dropped from 299 to 298, and Auto Theft rose from 36 to 40. More dramatically, Rape was down from 4 to 1, and Robbery increased from 27 to 33.

Here are the numbers:

Maplewood Township 2010 Preliminary Uniform Crime Report statistics:

Homicide

Rape

Arson

Robbery

Aggravated Assault

Burglary

Auto Theft

Larceny

2

1

2

33

15

106

36

299

These are 2009 UCR statistics for Maplewood:

Homicide

Rape

Arson

Robbery

Aggravated Assault

Burglary

Auto Theft

Larceny

0

4

2

27

16

68

40

298

In characterizing the numbers, Maplewood Police Chief Robert Cimino said, "As far as the crime statistics overall, it might be good to for the community know that although we saw the significant rise in burglaries in 2010, our arrests overall were up some 25% over last year as well, so our officers were raising their level of investigation and enforcement to address the burglary activity and incidents overall."

Cimino had previously reported that crime had . He also noted the an increase in arrests made in released last week.

"I appreciate the good job our officers did in holding the line on other categories of crime," said Cimino. "I’m eager to have our officers work with more residents and form more neighborhood watches to further limit opportunities for burglary threats to take hold again this year. Our investigators are continuing to work with other law enforcement agencies to develop intelligence and suppress burglary and other threats as expeditiously as they can."