What Does State Report Say About Crime in Cherry Hill?

Cherry Hill is down to its lowest crime level in a decade, according to the most recent statistics released by State Police in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR).

Both the official numbers from 2012 and the unofficial numbers from 2013 indicate the township is on a major decline after five straight years of increases, with the unofficial total from 2013 dropping to 2,134 total crimes, just slightly below the previous low in the last 10 years of 2,140 in 2005.

A decrease in nonviolent crime in 2012 started the two-year drop, according to UCR statistics—burglaries, including forcible attempts, fell off 6.6 percent, thefts were down 4.2 percent and car and truck thefts were down 28.9 percent from 2011 levels.

Violent crime—including murder, assaults using weapons and simple assaults—was flat overall between 2011 and 2012, with 112 incidents each year, according to the UCR.

Overall, crime was down 2.5 percent between 2011 and 2012—but that slight decrease was nothing compared to the unofficial 2013 statistics.

Crime wasn't just down across the board, it was off by as much as 45 percent or more in some categories and dropped 21.7 percent overall compared to 2012.

The biggest drop came in vehicle thefts, which fell off 46.2 percent—down to 49 from 91—and robberies weren't far behind, falling off 41.8 percent, down to 32 from 55.

Every other category saw a drop—assaults using weapons were down 19.6 percent, simple assaults were down 31 percent, burglaries were down 19.2 percent and thefts dropped by 18.5 percent.

2013 was also just the second year since 2005 the township didn't see a single homicide reported.

The report comes on the heels of a change at the top for Cherry Hill Police, who welcomed new Chief William “Bud” Monaghan last week, as he took over from retiring Chief Rick DelCampo.

Monaghan said the department is continuing to look for ways to be more effective, including adding special assignments and mobile patrols.

“We’re going to leverage the investments we’ve made in technology to determine the most effective and efficient way to deliver the service to the residents of this town,” he said last week. “We’re going to be aggressive in identifying problems before they get worse.”

The department is already making use of some of those pieces in the fight against crime—license plate readers on patrol cars caught an alleged serial robber as he drove down Route 38, and a new registry for secondhand shop owners was put in place partially as a deterrent to burglars.