New Hope Chief Shares Insight into Higher Crime Numbers
National crime rates are trending upward and it’s reflected in crime numbers from the City of New Hope. Serious offenses like arson, assault and theft went up 15% over the past year. The police chief said several factors contribute to it including a higher transient population.
“With the freeways and the connections and the people coming and going within the city to various businesses and association, we’re a pretty transient population. Sometimes that transient population will bring different crimes with it at times,” explained New Hope Police Chief Tim Fournier.
Although New Hope’s crime rate is up compared to 2017, it’s actually down from 10 years ago.
The New Hope Police Report shows that in 2008 there were 126 burglary cases, compared to 2018 with 76 burglaries.
Arson cases were at 7 in 2008 compared to 2018 with 3 arson cases.
The report however shows that criminal sexual conduct cases increased by 22 since 2008.
The police chief said an uptick in crime cases reported doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a spike in the crime itself.
“I think part of the reason our statistics is up especially in the sexual conduct, the rape cases, is I think we have actually more people reporting these crimes, which is a good thing, it’s better to report these than not report these,” Fournier said.
New Hope’s traffic unit also issued more than 900 traffic citations last year. That’s more than double from 2017.
