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
