The numbers are in for the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and while Voorhees has reported fewer violent crimes in 2010 than 2009, the number of property crimes has gone up.
The report, created by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was issued last week.
Voorhees Police Chief Keith Hummel is confident in his officers’ abilities to fight crime.
“I think we’re a good department,” Hummel said. “I think we’re out there patrolling the neighborhoods, we’re responding to residents as needed.
“I think we make a strong effort to go out and minimize the amount of violent crime that’s out there,” he added.
The chief said he believes property crime is up because the economy is so bad and that gold is selling high right now.
“Voorhees Township is a pretty affluent town,” he said, noting burglaries have increased as have incidents of fraud and theft.
Hummel also said the fact that there were no murders in 2009 and 2010 is not unique to Voorhees. He said the last murder in town was a murder suicide.
“It’s not common at all here,” Hummel said.
He also noted the number of aggravated assaults is down.
“We’re just fortunate,” the chief said.
He also said the UCR is one of the tools he uses to see where crime is developing in the township.
“They give us an overall gauge of what occurred back in 2010,” Hummel said. However, the monthly report issued by the state police lets him see what’s occurring more recently.
“I focus in on those because they give me a better picture of what’s occurring right now,” he said. “This is good to go back, and see if there are any trends developing.
“I think it just gives you a quick snapshot,” Hummel added. “I think they can be helpful to the law enforcement agency but generally overall I think south Jersey is a pretty safe place to live.”
The chief said he thinks Voorhees is one of the safer municipalities in Camden County.
He said the report, while somewhat helpful, can be deceiving.
“It all depends on the population,” Hummel said. “You can have a very small population and have one major crime and percentage wise it looks really bad.
“You can have a very large population and have one major crime and it looks good,” he added. “You really have to dig into the numbers.”
The goal is to reduce property crime and burglaries. Hummel said the detective bureau looking into the increase of burglaries and property crime.
From 2009 to 2010, the population of Voorhees went from 31,686 to 32,441.
The number of violent crimes dropped from 58 in 2009 to 37 in 2010.
Forcible rape also dropped from nine in 2009 to five in 2010.
There were 14 robberies in both 2009 and 2010.
Aggravated assault also dropped from 35 cases in 2009 to 18 in 2010.
Property crimes jumped from 706 in 2009 to 807 in 2010.
Burglaries were also on the rise, from 118 in 2009 to 139 in 2010.
Incidents of larceny-theft also jumped from 561 cases in 2009 to 646 in 2010.
The number of motor vehicles reported stolen went down from 27 in 2009 to 22 in 2010.
The number of arsons dipped from five in 2009 to three in 2010.
“Overall I believe Camden County is a pretty safe place to live and I think Voorhees is definitely a safe place to live,” Chief Hummel said.
The Uniform Crime Reporting Program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet a need for reliable, uniform crime statistics for the nation. In 1930, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing, and archiving those statistics.
