Crime & Safety
Crime Rate Remains Roughly Same in 2011, Report Shows
Uniform Crime Report, released Friday, shows slight decrease in crime overall and a slight rise in violent crime.
Violent crime in Parsippany last year was slightly higher than the year before, but the overall crime rate is a little lower than it was in 2010. That's one of the findings in the New Jersey State Police's 2011 Uniform Crime Report, which was released last Friday.
According to the report, 625 total crimes were reported in 2011. That's a decrease of 13 from the year before. The rate of crime dropped a scant amount—from 12 per 1,000 to 11.7 per 1,000.
The rate of nonviolent crime in Parsippany fell from 11.5 per 1,000 two years ago to 11.1 in 2011.
Find out what's happening in Parsippanywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Violent crime, on the other hand, rose, but only slightly. In 2010, there were a total of 26 violent incidents in the township and six greater—for a total of 32—last year. The rate of violent crime was up one-tenth to .6 crimes per 1,000.
CRIME NONVIOLENT
CRIME OVERALL
CRIME
per 1K VIOLENT
CRIME
per 1K NONVIOLENT
CRIME
per 1K 2010 638 26 612 12.0 0.5 11.5 2011 625 32 593 11.7 0.6 11.1
A breakdown of violent crimes shows the cause for the uptick. The number of murders remained at zero for 2011. Aggravated assaults and rapes declined, from 12 to 11 and from four to three, respectively. But the number of robberies nearly doubled from 10 in 2010 to 18 in 2010.
Find out what's happening in Parsippanywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Patch has put questions to Parsippany Police Chief Anthony DeZenzo and Mayor James Barberio regarding the possible reasons for the rise in robbery and what the department is doing to address the problem. We await their responses.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.