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SCARSDALE, N.Y. – Reported crime in Scarsdale is at a five-year low, an anomaly in Westchester County, according to state statistics.
The county is experiencing an upward trend in crime rates, according to the latest statistics from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Municipalities are required to send crime stats to the state each month. The 2012 statistics have not yet been compiled by the state.
Countywide, reported crime went up from 15,388 in 2010 to 16,037 in 2011, according to the report, but went down about 4 percent overall over the past four years.
In Scarsdale, there were 144 crimes reported in 2011, down from 220 in 2010 and 221 in 2009. Crime is down approximately 15 percent since 2009.
There were just two violent crimes reported in Scarsdale in 2011, both aggravated assaults. The other 142 were property crimes: 19 burglaries, 121 larcenies and two motor vehicle thefts.
The Westchester County Department of Public Safety received 166 crime reports in 2011, down from 278 in 2010, Westchester County Police spokesman Kieran O’Leary said. But individual municipal and overall county numbers are most accurate in depicting crime levels and trends, O'Leary said.
“Westchester County police are primarily a parkway patrol, so when it comes to county police numbers, it tends to be a little tricky,” O’Leary said. “We don’t operate in every municipality in the county. One year we might respond to an assault in Cortlandt, but it doesn’t mean there are fewer assaults. We just happened to be available.”
The Westchester County Metropolitan Transit Authority reported a total of 120 crimes in 2011 compared with 119 in 2010. But reported crime has increased 90 percent since 2009, when just 63 crimes were reported, according to the state.
“In general, it is accurate to say that all of our crime categories are steady or declining over the five years [from 2007 to 2011], except for larcenies," said Aaron Donovan, media liaison for the MTA. But, he said, he can’t vouch for the accuracy of the state data without further research.
The uptick in larcenies stem from the widespread increased use of expensive, handheld electronic devices, which are easy targets for thieves, Donovan says.
“It’s important for Metro-North customers to remember to always be alert while traveling and make a point of safeguarding expensive electronics while riding on the rails,” he says.
To see how your town compares among the county in reported crime, visit the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services website.
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