Westfield Public Safety Chair, Mayor Give Updates On Crime Trends

WESTFIELD, NJ — As the community prepared for an in-person "Pizza with the Police" event in Westfield on Thursday night, both Mayor Shelley Brindle and Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Michael Dardia released letters with updates and their perspective on crime in Westfield.

Westfield and other nearby towns, like Summit, have dealt with strings of car thefts and other high-profile crimes in recent months. The Westfield police also made several arrests in car thefts and car burglaries.

Mayor Brindle gave crime updates in both last Friday's weekly update to residents on May 14, and the newest letter on Friday, May 21.

Car Theft And Crime Update

A week ago Friday, Brindle wrote:

"Since my last update, Chief Battiloro advises that no new vehicle burglaries or thefts have been reported. Enhanced police patrols focused specifically on residential neighborhoods remain in full effect and will continue until further notice.

"While the Westfield Police Department is working hard to make this community safe and free from crime, vehicle thefts remain a persistent criminal problem in Union County municipalities. Chief Battiloro strongly encourages all residents to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious persons, vehicles and/or activities immediately via 9-1-1. The Westfield Police Department stands ready to respond to your requests for assistance."

In the most recent update on May 21, Brindle wrote that there still had been no car thefts. She gave other updates:

"As you may have read, the AT&T Store, located at 200 Central Ave., was burglarized on Tuesday night just after 11 p.m. Chief Battiloro reports that patrol officers responded to a report of an alarm activation and, upon arrival, discovered the front glass door was shattered. The premises were entered and $5,290 worth of merchandise was stolen. These 'smash & grab' burglaries to cellular phone stores have been occurring recently throughout northern New Jersey.

"This week, there were also two bicycle thefts reported — one on the 100 block of Harrison Avenue on May 15, in which the bicycle was stolen from an unlocked, detached garage, and one on the 700 block of Fourth Avenue on May 18, in which the unsecured bicycle was removed from a front porch. The latter one was determined to have occurred during the early morning hours, just after midnight."

She reminded residents to lock their cars and avoid leaving key fobs in the cars.

Dardia's Letter

Councilman Michael Dardia sent a letter to the editor of local news outlets offering his insight:

As Chairman of the Public Safety, Parking and Transportation Committee and a Ward 2 resident, I share the same concerns as my neighbors about the recent burglaries and thefts. To put our current car theft problem into historical context, I took a deeper dive into Westfield crime statistics over the past ten years to see how this recent string of thefts compares.

It turns out, the statistics indicate that Westfield is safer today than it has been in the past ten years. Let’s look at the facts:

• Violent crimes (assault, rape, murder and robbery) are down significantly from their highest levels in prior years. Assaults peaked at 74 in 2010; we had less than half of that (31) in 2020. Robberies remained higher from 2010 through 2015 (5-6 yearly from 2013-2015) but dropped to between 2 and 3 from 2016 through 2020, with none on record in the first quarter of 2021.

• Larceny theft is down. Larceny theft, which includes burglaries from motor vehicles, hovered around the 200 mark yearly up until 2018, with 2011 holding the decade record with 279. Even removing that one outlier, there were between 184-245 larcenies every single year between 2010-2017. The tide turned positively in 2018 after Chris Battiloro was sworn in as Police Chief, dropping to 112 larceny thefts in 2019 and bumping up slightly to 136 last year.

• Property crime has considerably decreased. Property crimes (arson, burglary, larceny theft and motor vehicle theft) were tracked over this same period. 2013 and 2016 tied at 58 for the highest numbers of burglaries; we had 9 (!) in 2019 and eleven last year.

In Westfield, motor vehicle thefts averaged about 8 per year from 2010 to 2016, and then escalated prior to this administration when 28 cars were stolen in 2017, the most in a ten-year period. This dropped to 20 cars in 2019 and nudged up to 25 last year, reflecting a trend that is occurring statewide. In almost all instances, the key fobs were left in unlocked cars. Thanks to the great work of the WPD, 100% of stolen cars in 2021 to date have been recovered.

In 2021, there have been 11 vehicle thefts to date, eight of which were left unlocked with key fobs inside. In two instances, the thieves entered unlocked homes to steal key fobs. Chief Battiloro has outlined simple steps that can reduce similar thefts in the future, while significantly increasing the department’s efforts to stop these crimes.

I want to assure the residents of Westfield that the Mayor and Council have provided our police with any and all resources they have requested to combat these recent auto thefts and burglaries. The WPD is already working with NJ state agencies to combat these thefts. In fact, we are the only municipality in Union County that has a full time detective assigned to the state’s auto theft task force and our Chief has committed himself to this cause. We have initiated programs like the statewide “9PM Routine” to get neighbors into the habit of checking that their cars are locked at night, as well as ward-specific Nixle alerts to inform residents of localized criminal activity. Chief Battiloro states that enhanced neighborhood patrols remain in place using both very overt and less obvious tactics. Since 2019, we have more sworn officers on active duty than in any year prior in the last decade.

I’d argue, though, that any crime is too much crime. So what more can be done? We can support our police by helping them help us. Chief Battiloro has issued statements letting us know the steps we can take to protect our belongings and ensure our personal safety. We can get into the habit of securing our vehicles. We can keep our eyes open and report any suspicious activities. We can enhance vigilance instead of cultivating fear. We can each play a role in keeping Westfield safe.

— Councilman Michael Dardia

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