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Brockport police department visibility up, arrests down
When police officer visibility is up, Brockport Police Chief Dan Varrenti says arrests and crimes go down. "Statistics can be interpreted in any number of ways," Varrenti said. "And what I've concluded is that because of the department's increased visibility, we have been able to drastically cut crimes." Varrenti explained that if you look at the number of reports generated in most of the counted categories, they show a decreased number of reports were generated. As an example, in 2003 there were 172 petit larceny reports generated, in 2004 there were 115; harassment 131 reports in 2003 to 56 in 2004. Mayor Josephine Matela said the department's numbers were "great news" and show that increased visibility can be a deterrent against crime. "I think the citizens should be pleased that the department has created a much better quality of life in the village," she said. "Crime is going down, the department received accreditation and increased officer training is something we are all happy about." "When the village's population doubles when the students come back to the college we became more proactive with vehicle stops and driving while intoxicated checkpoints," he said. While some may say DWI checkpoints don't please everyone, Varrenti said in his opinion they work. "A checkpoint offers the highest degree of visibility to the community that a police force can get," he said. "The trick is to make it appear we have more than we do. We leave people with the impression our force is larger than it is." Matela said that because the officers are out there, on the streets and in the neighborhoods, that disorderly conduct and open container complaints have decreased. "We're very encouraged that the increased officer visibility has led to the decrease in crimes in the village," she said. Better utilization of limited resources was also on the agenda in 2004, Varrenti said. "We've utilized our time and our grant money more wisely, tried to stay under budget but our ultimate goal is always to reduce crime," he said. And bottom line, "We had less crime in Brockport in 2004 that we did in 2003." In 2004 In 2003 |