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Violent crimes drop in Warren
Murder rate tumbles; chief credits feds
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The city’s violent crime declined in 2010 compared with 2009, thanks to extra help last summer from outside agencies.
But property crime rose, probably because of the poor economy, police Chief Tim Bowers said, adding that “school-aged juveniles are committing more property crimes than in the past — burglaries and thefts.”
Among the highlights of crime statistics Bowers released this week are that the city had less than half as many murders in 2010 (four) compared with 2009 (nine) and 9 percent fewer robberies. Robberies involve direct contact with a victim.
The number of assaults, kidnappings and rapes were about the same both years.
But the number of burglaries — thefts that don’t involve direct contact with a victim — jumped by nearly 40 percent.
The city benefited from help from several additional law-enforcement resources last year, such as the 10-week Violence, Gun Reduction Interdiction Program (V-GRIP). The program, initiated by Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, resulted in hundreds of arrests and dozens of guns taken off Warren’s streets.
Bowers said the added police presence in Warren removed a lot of potential criminals and victims.
“When there are federal prosecutions, they put the cream-of-the-crop criminals in prison for a long time,” Bowers said.
“When you take low-level people off the streets, they don’t become the victim, plus [when you remove] the real bad guy, you have fewer homicides,” Bowers said.
“We had more police on the street because of the cooperation over the summer,” Bowers said.
One example is homicide. None occurred all summer, and the city went nearly nine months without one until Jan. 31, 2011, when Sharmaine M. Delaney, 20, was found dead in her Hampshire House apartment. No arrests have been made.
Last May 9, Rahman Warfield, 34, of McKinley Street Northeast and Steven S. Faison, 24, of Duke Avenue Southeast were killed in a double homicide in Warfield’s house. Karenda A. Hutsenpiller, 21, is charged with the murders.
Detectives were busy investigating a wave of burglaries that plagued the city in 2010, as the number rose to 1,075, compared to 770 in 2009. Juveniles were a part of that burglary problem, as the number of burglaries attributed to juveniles rose to 27 in 2010 — more than double the 2009 total of 10.
Juvenile robberies and aggravated robberies were also up — 12 in 2010, compared to 4 in 2009. The 27 juvenile burglaries and 12 juvenile robberies were the highest totals in six years.