JAMESTOWN – Overall crime in the city of Jamestown for 2017 was at its lowest level in 25 years.
That’s according to Jamestown Police Chief and Public Safety Director Harry Snellings, who went over the overall crime statistics in the city for last year with the City Public Safety Committee as well as the full city council on Monday night.
Chief Snellings said that the overall crime index in Jamestown for 2017 was 33.9 incident per 1,000 people. That’s a 16 percent decrease from 2016 and over 20 percent lower than the five year average.
Snellings also said that the incident rate was actually the lowest it’s been in 25 years.
“It’s a positive thing. I’ve mentioned perception and reality in the past – the problem i we’ve had some incidents that have garnered a lot of attention and incidents we’re not used to, but the reality is, as you can see, our numbers are continuing to go down,” Snellings said.
Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings
Snellings said violent crimes in 2017 – which are those involving murder, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault – was down more than 10 percent from 2016. City police dealt with a total of 181 violent crimes, which was the first time that number fell below 200 in four years.
“I think it was in 2016 when they did the study and in most major cities the crime rate was going up, while ours was going down. And it was the same [in 2017]. It continues, which is a good thing,” Snellings said.
As for property crime, police dealt with 876 incidents, down 17.5 percent from 2016. Property crimes are those involving Burglary, Larceny, and Motor Vehicle Theft.
The FBI keeps drug arrest statistics, so those numbers are not included in the final numbers of a community’s crime index report.
Chief Snellings said the JPD’s full 2017 Annual Report, which will take a deeper dive at the numbers, will be available in early February and posted on the city website.
The 2017 Jamestown crime statistics provided by Jamestown Police Chief/Public Safety Director Harry Snelling on Jan. 22, 2018.
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