March 29, 2024

Creating a safe community

Recently the City of Newton released the results of the 2016 Community Attitude Survey that showed citizens find Newton to be a safer community today than two years ago. The survey indicated the Newton Police Department earned a 78 percent good or excellent rating, up 12 percent from 2014. Also, those who rated the department’s services fair or poor dropped 12 percent from the last survey. The survey also reflected a positive trend upwards in relation to crime prevention, traffic enforcement and animal enforcement.

Surveys are a great gauge for the police department to see progress in various areas of operations and we are proud of the results. As it relates to police services and the safety of the community, the survey means little if the crime statistics don’t back up the results. I am pleased to report that the community saw a reduction in crime in 2015.

The police department tracks the number of crime reports taken annually and reports the type of crimes reported to the State of Iowa and in turn is reported to the FBI. Crimes are divided up into two categories — Part I and Part II crimes.

Part I crimes are further divided into two categories: violent and property crimes.  Aggravated assaultforcible rapemurder and robbery are classified as violent crimes while arsonburglarylarceny-theft and motor vehicle theft are classified as property crimes.

Part II crimes consist of the following categories: simple assault, curfew offenses, loitering, embezzlement, forgery, counterfeiting, disorderly conduct, driving under the influence, drug offenses, fraud, gambling, liquor offenses, offenses against the family, prostitution, public drunkenness, runaways, sex offenses, stolen property, vandalism, vagrancy and weapons offenses.

In 2015 citizens reported 2,075 crimes to the police department, which was an 18 percent decrease from 2014 when 2,513 crimes were reported. The community saw a 22 percent decrease in Part I (most serious) crimes reported and a 13 percent decrease in Part II crimes reported. Of particular note, violent crimes reported in Newton decreased by 14 percent and property crimes reported decreased by 1.5 percent.

The FBI has yet to publish the full nationwide crime report for 2015, but preliminary results indicate that violent crime increased by 1.7 percent and property crime decreased by 4.2 percent nationally. It’s too early to say whether Newton’s downward trend will continue, but the numbers are encouraging and shows great improvement.

Although the overall crime rate decreased, the department did have a 6 percent increase in calls for service. Calls for service involve any call from a citizen for assistance from the police department. This can include reporting crimes, suspicious persons, accidents, animal complaints, traffic issues and any other type of situation a citizen may call the police department for. Calls for service are tracked to determine the amount of workload the department is undertaking each year and although there was an increase in 2015 (16,433) over 2014 (15,553), it has not traditionally corresponded with a significant rise in crime. It’s difficult to clearly identify what caused the increase based on a one year analysis, but the change may be reflective of citizens being more proactive in reporting issues to the police department, which is hopefully a product of the police department’s efforts to engage and encourage our community to report incidents regardless of the severity.

Newton has overcome a lot of challenges over the past decade and it’s clear we are moving in the right direction. Newton is not alone in terms of the types of crimes and issues faced in the community when compared with other Iowa cities, but I believe our community should be proud of the positive steps we have taken. The police department can’t combat crime alone and we rely heavily on the cooperation our citizens. We are proud of the relationships we have built over the years and hope to continue building upon that foundation in the future. We encourage you to report incidents to the department regardless of how severe you believe they are. Your tip may be the information needed to solve a crime or catch a criminal.

The Newton Police Department appreciates the community’s continued support and we are honored to protect and serve you every day.

Stay safe and we hope to see you at Safety Fest on Saturday.