GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The Green Bay Police Department says that crime is trending down in the city.
And that news is a reason for celebration within the department.
“We told each other it’s time to break out the donuts, it was a nice decrease in crime,” says Green Bay Police Chief Andrew Smith.
The department says crime dropped 13.81 percent last year, compared to 2017.
“These are very good crime numbers and crime rates we haven’t seen since the seventies and eighties,” says Chief Smith.
The report tracked both violent crimes and property crimes, which are deemed “serious” crimes.
Violent crimes would include homicide, rape, and robbery, while property crimes would be burglary, larceny/theft, and arson.
“Violent crime is down a little over one-percent, property crime is down more than sixteen-percent,” he explains. “So it seems like everything is moving in the right direction.”
In fact, this is the second straight year that crime within city limits has decreased from the previous year.
In 2017, crime decreased around nine-percent compared to numbers in 2016.
“So compiled together [there is a] more than twenty-two-percent decrease in crime over the past couple of years,” he explains. “Which is just fantastic.”
Green Bay PD says both rape and vehicle theft went against the grain and increased from 2017 to 2018.
“A total of 92 cars were stolen, that’s a little over a ten-percent increase over last year,” he says. “We’ve been trying to get people to keep the keys out of their car.”
In terms of the decrease in violent crimes, Chief Smith says they take great pride in that statistic.
“Our detectives are relentless,” he says. “When you commit a violent crime in Green Bay we’re relentless in following up and finding that person.”
While he does admit, they wish the number was zero.
“We are very proud that crime is trending downward in Green Bay, but one violent crime is too many especially when you are talking about crimes like homicide and rape. We will continue our best efforts to prevent crime and where it cannot be prevented, we will hold those responsible to account. Green Bay is not the place to try and commit a crime,” Chief Smith says.
He says at this point the city is not seeing cases of repeat serial rapists attacking random strangers.
The report, which can be read here, includes Green Bay crime statistics dating back to 2003.
