Uniform Crime Report released for Shamong Township
By Katrina Grant
The Uniform Crime Report has been released for Shamong Township and the state. According to the state website, crime is up 1 percent overall for the state. The crime report measures offenses committed from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010.
“Our latest crime data shows a slight increase in the overall crime rate in New Jersey,” Attorney General Paula T. Dow said in a press release on the state website. “We must be aggressive and smart in fighting crime, especially during this economic crisis facing our state and nation.”
In Shamong, the crime incidents went up overall from the previous year. In 2009, the township had 38 incidences of crime. In 2010, it had 64. Each crime was broken down into categories of violent or nonviolent crimes. Shamong Township had no violent crimes, which are constituted as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. In the previous year, there was a rape and four cases of aggravated assault.
The spike in crime falls under the nonviolent category. In the previous year, the number of nonviolent crime incidences was 33. In 2010, it was 64. Burglaries jumped from seven to 20, larceny jumped from 23 to 44, and there were 11 cases of domestic violence, which are in their own category.
In Burlington County, crime dropped overall from 8,553 to 8,390 incidents. Violent crime was up from 641 in the previous year to 661 in 2010. Nonviolent crime dropped in the county from 7,912 to 7,729. There were five murders, 76 rapes, 249 robberies, 331 aggravated assaults, 1,589 burglaries, 5,828 larcenies, 312 motor vehicle thefts, 55 arsons, 3,919 domestic violence cases and 61 bias crimes.
To see a full copy of the crime report visit the state website at http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases11/2010_Uniform-Crime-Report.pdf.
Sergeant First Class Julian Castellanos of the New Jersey State Police was unable to be reached for comment.
