Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Big uptick in Stolen Property in July

After last February's huge jump in Stolen Property ($152,019) in Woodstock, which followed January's reported stolen property of $65,021, thieves apparently moved elsewhere or went to Hawaii to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

The levels of stolen property returned to "normal" monthly reported amounts; that is, until July.

Take a look at the amounts of reported stolen property for
March $7,585
April $9,611
May $8,602
June $13,178

Now, look at the reported total for July, 2009: $54,308

July is a 300% increase over June and a 500% increase over the three-month average of March, April and May.

But did you hear about it anywhere? Is there crime in Woodstock? Not if you don't hear about, I guess.

If the police department released this type of information to the public and published a column monthly in The Woodstock Independent (and/or here in The Woodstock Advocate) with the types of burglaries, thefts and/or robberies, where and when they occurred, and what the circumstances were (garage doors open, homes or cars unlocked, night-time burglaries, etc.), then residents could begin to work with the police to stop these crimes. Hint, hint...

Do the members of the City Council look at these numbers and put a pencil to them? The Police Department report is just one of many in a Council's meeting packet.

At Monday's joint meeting of the City Council and the Historic Preservation Commission Mayor Sager opined that City Council members should not attend Board and Commission meetings. I beg to differ. If they did, they'd have a better idea of what is happening in our City.

One Council member should be assigned to each Board and Commission. He or she might not attend every meeting, but they should attend 5-6-7 in a year and read carefully the reports of the Boards, Commissions and City Departments. Everybody can't read every one but, unless assigned, it's too likely that some of the reports might not get read by anyone.

Source: Woodstock Police Department reports to the City Council

4 comments:

Franker said...

Ever think that such a large jump in the total reported theft is when a car or large piece of construction equipment get stolen?

Gus said...

Sure did. And wondered where the press release was about it. It's called "transparency" in government.

Franker said...

Why would they do a press release when a car gets stolen? Do you want a press release of every crime in every town, in every county, in every state?

Gus said...

I'm looking for an explanation in the largest percentage increase (and dollar amount) of Stolen Property.

Obviously, the theft of $40,-45,000 worth of construction equipment or a car of that value would explain the jump.

What do you suppose accounted for the $152,000 last February?