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Following National Trend, Crime In Connecticut Continues Long-term Decline

Hartford Courant - 9/24/2018

Sept. 24--Following a national trend, crime has continued to drop sharply in Connecticut -- leading to fewer arrests and a lower prison population.

Crime is now at its lowest level in more than 50 years, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy predicted Monday that arrests will also drop when the final numbers for 2018 are compiled next year.

He said the total number of crimes reported in 2017 dropped to 71,883, a two percent drop from the previous year and the lowest level since 1967. The number of statewide arrests has also continued to drop, from a peak of 138,719 in 2009 to 81,408 in 2017. Malloy's office is predicting the number will drop by another 6 percent for 2018.

The number of murders in Connecticut edged up in 2017 to 105, a figure well below the 1990s. Thus far in 2018, Malloy's office said, the total number of murders in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport are at 32, down 30 percent from a total of 44 last year at this time.

The numbers translate into day-to-day impacts in cities and towns across the state, Malloy said.

"We have to remember that this data represents real change in our communities -- our policies are making our neighborhoods safer while at the same time providing young people who may otherwise get trapped into a cycle of crime the ability to lead successful lives," Malloy said.

Nationally, violent crime dropped between 1993 and 2016 by 48 percent, according to the FBI.

The state and national trends have continued and accelerated. Crime has been dropping in Connecticut for nearly three decades since a peak of more than 177,000 crimes reported in 1990 -- the final year for Gov. William A. O'Neill.

Crime dropped substantially under Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell from about 104,000 reported major offenses in 2004 to fewer than 89,000 in 2010. The numbers have dropped further to 80,298 in 2013 and then 71,883 in 2017. The final statistics for 2018 will not be available until next year.

Major advances in DNA and the explosion of security cameras in commercial areas have been key factors in making arrests. Malloy said he believes that cameras have had a bigger impact on arrests than on preventing crimes.

"It certainly is a gigantic factor in solving crimes," Malloy told reporters. "Cameras are ubiquitous. You have one in your pocket."

New Haven police chief Anthony Campbell, who attended the press conference with Malloy, agreed.

"From an on-the-ground standpoint, the cameras have definitely been the largest factor in solvability [of crimes]," Campbell told reporters. "The information that we're able to get both from cameras at convenience stores and individuals who have cameras at their homes, have helped us with descriptions, solvability, placing a particular suspect at a location and increased our solvability rate significantly."

Following the Boston Marathon bombings, the FBI and local police were aided in their investigation by a large number of videotapes recorded outside stores and office buildings near the finish line of the race.

In releasing national statistics Monday, the FBI cautioned against an over-analysis of the numbers that could potentially be "simplistic" and incomplete.

"Each year when Crime in the United States is published, some entities use the figures to compile rankings of cities and counties," the FBI said of its report. "These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, tribal area, or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents."

Connecticut officials have cited the state's shooting task force and the Project Longevity program in the state's three major cities as contributing to the progress in curbing crime. Project Longevity is designed to encourage gang members to leave gangs in exchange for help with mental health and addiction treatment, and medical or employment needs.

Multiple factors have led to the drop in crime, including significant advances in DNA technology. Community policing, whereby officers focus on preventing crime, and much better electronic surveillance than decades ago also have helped hold down crime.

With the proliferation of cellphones, more people are likely to take pictures, officials said. Police also can obtain warrants for information on those cellphones, including text messages and GPS positions that never were chronicled until the technology became available.

State Sen. Len Suzio, a Meriden Republican who has studied the crime numbers closely for the past six years, says that Malloy is not talking enough about felons who are released and commit crimes again.

"He puts the light on selected data that he thinks makes his administration look good," Malloy said,

Suzio says that too many prisoners have been released early and then committed crimes again, adding that he will be releasing information that he received in a Freedom of Information request regarding the crimes by former prisoners.

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