Published: May 18, 2008 01:43 am         

Crime spikes during April

GREENVILLE — Greenville Police Chief Harold Roseberry is convinced the worsening overall economy was the reason for a significant increase in crime last month, especially in the numbers of burglaries and thefts.

“I would say it was behind a whole lot of that,” Roseberry said. “We’re trying to put a stop to it. We’re making adjustments to try and slow some of it down.”

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) report indicated that there were 217 “Part One” crimes — homicides, forcible rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts and automobile thefts — recorded locally during April, an increase of almost 25 percent when compared to the 176 offenses reported during April of last year. There were 168 offenses reported during April 2006.

Through the end of April, there had been 741 Part One offenses reported locally, an increase of 8.6 percent from the 682 offenses listed through the first four months of 2007.

Burglaries were up 29 percent during April, when compared to April 2007, while thefts were up 45 percent during the same period.

Roseberry said those are the types of crimes which typically reflect increases during times of economic uncertainty.

“Thefts can be anything,” Roseberry said. “It can be a potted plant, an aluminum ladder left out in someone’s yard, anything that’s available can be stolen in a second.”

He noted a recent shoplifting case in which the suspect fled from officers who arrived as the individual was still in the store. The suspect ran out the back door of the business, leading to a foot chase soon which covered about three blocks before the suspect’s arrest.

“You know what he stole,” Roseberry asked. “A box of diapers.”

The suspect was not known as a thieve, and had no prior criminal history, aside from a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated arrest from several years ago. Roseberry said the such scenes are becoming more common.

“It makes you feel bad, but we have to do our job,” Roseberry said.

Police officers were indeed doing their job last month, making 205 arrests, which resulted in 229 charges being filed. That compares to 190 arrests, resulting in 223 charges during April 2007.

Roseberry was surprised by one statistic, especially concerning the rapidly increasing cost of gas.

“We’re not seeking that many reports of the theft of fuel, at least not yet,” Roseberry said.