Crime Scene

Serious crime continues to drop in Greenburgh – either way you slice it.
Police chief John Kapica yesterday released annual crime stats for 2006, reporting that the 903 crimes were the lowest total since the statistics were first reported in the early 1980s – a 1.8 percent drop. Or was it 863 crimes, down 2.4 percent? Depends what crime-reporting method you use.
As always, the announcement about serious or Part I crimes – murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft and larceny – came in a two-page release. It’s two pages because Greenburgh tallies crime statistics differently than most communities and the chief needs some space to explain.
The majority of police departments in Westchester count the most serious crime in each incident. Greenburgh and 12 other agencies count each crime within each incident. So if there’s a home invasion in which the owner is pistol-whipped and seriously injured and his Jaguar is taken from the garage, it’s not counted as just an assault, it’s an assault, a burglary, a robbery and a motor vehicle theft.
Last year, Greenburgh saw significant drops in rapes (from 5 to 1) and motor vehicle thefts (60 to 45) and small decreases in assault (38 to 33) and larceny (715 to 712). There was a modest increase in burglaries (80 to 84) and a more dramatic rise in robberies (21 to 27). Under the more uniform method of crime reporting, all the categories showed the same pattern – except for assault, which went up slightly.
There was one rape last year, down from five in 2005. For the second straight year, there was one homicide in the town.
And it’s not just serious crime going down in the town, Kapica reported. Part II crimes, including simple assault, drug possession, DWI and criminal mischief, were down 22.3 percent – from 1,807 to 1,404.