Is there any crime in Woodstock?

Within the past week or so (I don't recall the date) the Northwest Herald published its latest "Police Reports" for Woodstock. When were those reports for? February 25 - March 14!!!

Every month the Woodstock Police Department submits a report to the City Manager, and it goes into the packet that each member of the City Council receives. They receive their "packet" electronically. It saves printing, paper, binding, etc. Of course, I wonder what part of the whole packet get careful scrutiny.

If a resident wants to know what's happening, he has to go to City Hall or to the Woodstock Public Library to read the packet, either before or after the meeting for which it is prepared. For example, the packet for tonight's City Council meeting was probably available to a resident's review after noon last Friday.

What's in the May 2011 report?

Total crimes are approximately 15% higher, year-to-date, than in 2010.
Criminal arrests were higher for May 2011 (129 to 118) than in May 2010. And year-to-date arrests are higher (519 to 462).
Several complaints of criminal damage were investigated - broken residential windows during late-night hours of Saturdays and Sundays.

The armed robbery at Three Star Pizza on May 18 got 16 words out of four paragraphs. No reported arrests.

Take a look at Stolen Property.
May 2011 - $68,657 (vs. May 2010, $13,922)
YTD 2011 - $141,240 (vs. YTD 2010, $72,999) - an increase of 93.5%!

Maybe instead of wasting time on tobacco sting operations, we ought to be concentrating on preventing thefts of property?

How about if the City published the monthly Police Department report on the PD's webpages? This would make it easily accessible to most residents. It wouldn't remain "invisible" to the community or be hard to find. It would be an easy and inexpensive step to put the report online .pdf format.