Madison Crime Numbers Increase

Data For First Half Of 2010 Released

The number of violent crimes offenses to Madison Police Department (MPD) went up during the first six months of 2010. The MPD has provided the FBI figures showing the following (all numbers are for the first six months of 2009 or 2010): • There were 481 violent crime offenses in 2010. There were 403 in 2009. • There were 2 murders recorded in 2010. There was 1 in 2009. • There were 164 robberies in 2010. There were 158 in 2009. • There were 265 aggravated assaults in 2010. There were 229 in 2009. • There were 3,734 property crimes in 2010. There were 3,551 in 2009. • There were 794 burglaries in 2010. There were 576 in 2009. • There were 2,771 thefts reported in 2010. There were 2,824 in 2009. • There were 50 sexual assaults reported in 2010. There were 15 in 2009. • There were 169 vehicles stolen in 2010. There were 151 in 2009. The Madison Police Department will hold a news conference sometime after the first of the year when annual numbers are available. It is not uncommon for crime categories to be up over the first half of the year, and down during the second half. For instance, preliminary third quarter figures show there were 82 robberies this year, but 112 during the third quarter of 2009. In addition, preliminary numbers, show 407 burglaries during the third quarter of 2010, compared to 485 in the third quarter of 2009. It should also be noted that the way offenses are reported is very different for 2010. The Madison Police Department has moved from reporting crime data using the traditional Summary Based Uniform Crime Reporting System (UCR) to National Incident-Based Reporting (NIBRS). This may create significant changes in numbers that do not necessarily correlate to more crimes being committed. For instance, under Summary UCR only the most serious offense stemming from a crime was counted. If there was a burglary where the victim was also battered, the crime would be recorded as a battery. With the National Incident-Based Reporting that same crime will show up in the burglary and in the battery data. More information on these two methodologies can be found on the National Institute of Justice's website at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/crime/ucr-nibrs.htm Chief Noble Wray believes NIBRS will provide much more meaningful data, as the MPD continues to look to data to drive resource allocation decisions. Behind the numbers, whatever they turn out to be in 2010, it is clear is that Madison continues to see several trends impacting crime levels: drug addiction (particularly to heroin), street gangs, and repeat offenders contribute heavily to our crime problems. The men and women of the Madison Police Department are committed to working with the community, finding new and innovative approaches to attacking these trends and reducing all crime.

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