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Chester County Press

A look at crime statistics in Kennett Square for 2013

02/12/2014 03:40PM ● By Acl

By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

Kennett Square Police Chief Edward Zunino recently offered borough council a comparison of Uniform Crime Report statistics in the borough for 2012 and 2013.

Reported Part I offenses, which include crimes like rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and arson increased from 130 incidents in 2012 to 139 incidents in 2013. Zunino said that the increase in larceny—24 more incidents from one year to the next—was a concern.

Aggravated assaults declined from 12 to 7, but assaults ticked up from 26 to 31. There were 16 burglaries in 2013 after there were 30 reported in 2012.

Thefts from vehicles continue to be an ongoing problem—in Kennett Square and elsewhere. Zunino said that criminals will routinely walk around and look for unlocked cars that they can easily steal from, especially if they find expensive items like laptops, cameras, or phones that are left out in the open.

One way to prevent these thefts from occurring is simply to lock doors.

“It’s amazing the number of vehicles that are left unlocked,” Zunino explained.

Part II offenses declined overall from 2012 to 2013, with 469 reported last year compared to 525 the year before. One of the biggest drops came from reported cases of vandalism reported—36 in 2013 compared to 54 in 2012.

Reported cases of fraud rose from 22 to 25, sex offenses jumped from 4 to 6, and there were 5 reported weapons possession charges after there were none in 2012. The number of DUI cases remained the same from one year to the next, with 54.

Zunino noted that quality-of-life issues like drunkenness or disorderly conduct are declining. Arrests for disorderly conduct dropped from 191 to 169, while instances of drunkenness declined from 22 to 14. Offenses against the family leveled off, too, with 77 in 2013 after 89 were reported the year before.

Traffic citations dropped to 622 in 2013 after 779 were issued the year before. The warnings also dipped from 692 to 631.

The total number of police calls for service declined from 8,033 calls in 2012 to 7,757 in 2013.