This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Crime & Safety

Crime, Accidents Down in Geneva

It's not a big statistical change, but crime and accidents fell in most categories in 2010—at least in a year-over-year comparison of the first 11 months.

Each month, Geneva's Police Department issues a report on crime and accident statistics.

The last report, which does not include December, shows that 2010 stats are, for the most part, down year over year.

Certainly, the numbers aren't a definitive assessment of crime in Geneva, but with the exception of thefts, the totals were down in each category the department reports. Thefts went up from 248 in 2009 to 255 in 2010.

Find out what's happening in Genevawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the first 11 months of 2010 and 2009, the total number of crimes went down from 311 to 291.

The total number of traffic accidents went down from 902 to 873, but that might change after the December totals are added. The snow and icy weather conditions contributed to a lot of accidents in the December 2010 police reports.

Find out what's happening in Genevawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The two charts attached here show the numbers.

When analyzing these numbers, it's always a question of the chicken and the egg. Do fewer numbers of reported crimes mean that fewer crimes are being committed or is it a case of fewer people choosing to report a crime?

Here are three of the department's highlights, as reported in December. 

1. Crime rate statistics and traffic accident experience for the first eleven months of 2009 and 2010 are as indicated on page 2.

20 fewer criminal incidents.  29 fewer traffic accidents.

2. Red Light Photo Enforcement continues at the intersections of Randall Road at Williamsburg Avenue and Randall Road at Fargo Boulevard. Between March 9 and Nov. 30, a total of 7,149 red light violations were captured on video. Of those, 6,261 violations were received and reviewed by the Police Department and 5,216 citations were issued to violators.

3. During the five months of the Police Department's Medication Collection and Disposal Program, 53,055 grams (or approximately 117 pounds) of pills have been collected and subsequently disposed of. This weight includes only the pills and not their containers. Additional quantities of liquid, powder and cream-based medications were also collected and disposed of. Citizens continue to use this service on a regular basis.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.