Aggravated Assaults Drop in Campbell but Robberies, Burglaries are on the Rise

The Campbell Police Department's Annual Year in Review report was recently released and overall, crime is down in the Orchard City but the amount of is still eye-popping.

According to the report, there were 1,015 reports of theft in the city in 2010, compared to 1,038 in 2009, a 2 percent drop. The total number of reported crimes to the Campbell Police was 1,848 in 2010, compared to 1,882 in 2009, a 2 percent drop.

In comparison to the rest of the categories, the number of thefts is much higher.

Campbell Police, however, say that there's a reason for this.

In general, every law enforcement agency abides by the United States Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program. This program makes it possible for more than 18,000 agencies throughout the country to report their crime statistics using same categories for consistency.

These categories however do not include many municipal code violations, disturbances and unruly conduct.

“Each agency has their own reporting standards,” says Campbell Police Capt. Dave Carmichael. “Campbell PD prides itself on reporting on all crime that we’re made aware of as much as possible.”

What this translates to is simply if police are called out, and a resident wants to file a report, a report is taken every time, regardless of the type of crime in question.

If someone reports a $5 statue stolen from their front lawn and they would like a police report, the police take it, he says.

“It’s very important to recognize that we want to document all crime that’s reported,” Carmichael says. “We don’t miss anything. To say that we have more burglaries or thefts than another city, just because of the statistic isn’t completely accurate. If you don’t take reports every time, you won’t show as much crime.

“We feel that by doing that (taking reports every time), it gives us something that we can compare year to year,” he continues. “If we were to pick and choose what we would report on, it would make it more difficult to track trends. We want an accurate account of crime in the city and see if things are going up or down.”

For the third year in a row, there were no reported homicides in Campbell and violent crimes, such as assault and rape dropped as well.

The biggest drop in crime was in the category of aggravated assault: down 49 percent. What this category means is simply an attack from one person on another with the sole purpose of inflicting severe or "aggravated" bodily injury.

New tech tools have also helped Campbell Police in being more efficient.

“The automatic license plate readers have greatly enhanced our ability to locate wanted vehicles, and has aided us in a number of investigations, particularly in auto theft” Carmichael says. “We’ve made quite a few arrests and located stolen vehicles because of it.”

Campbell Police Department Annual Year in Review Annual Year in Review report