October 15, 2004

 

CRIME RATE CONTINUES TO DECLINE

 

RAHWAY - A State Police report released Wednesday shows that crime in Rahway has fallen to a record low, according to three members of the City Council.

 

“In the last 25 or 30 years, we have not had a crime rate as low as we did in 2003,” said Councilman Robert Rachlin, who represents the city’s First Ward. “Despite the Bush administration’s cutbacks that eliminated federal funding for nine police salaries last year, we continue to make progress in making Rahway safe.”

 

“Our city’s emergency services have a state-of-the-art command and control center and we still have more police than we did when crime was at its peak,” said Third Ward Councilman Jerry Scaturo.

 

“Police initiatives, such as community policing, have reduced crime rates,” said Fourth Ward Councilman David Brown. “We are getting people involved and the entire community is our police officer at large.”

 

Brown has been a driving force in the city’s participation in the national ‘Night Out Against Crime’ program as well as running the JFK Community Center, which has helped hundreds of children and teens avoid the temptation of drugs.

 

The State Police released the annual Uniform Crime Report showing the number of offenses in various categories during 2003.  There were 794 index offenses in Rahway, or 29.5 crimes per thousand population.

 

The comparable crime rates for other Union County cities were: Elizabeth 53.7, Hillside 45.4, Linden 47.9 and Plainfield 49.0. With 39.6 for 2003, even Union Township, which has a population of 55,538, had a higher crime rate than Rahway.

 

Rahway’s crime rate peaked in 1981, when there were 1,463 index offenses and a crime rate of 54.9.

 

In 1991, the city had 1,232 offenses for a crime rate of 48.6 and since then, felonies have declined gradually but last year was the first time that figures dropped below 30.

 

For more information visit:

 

http://www.njsp.org/info/ucr2003/pdf/2003_sect7.pdf

 

http://www.njsp.org/info/ucr2003