Crime Declined In Belmar in 2013, Report Says

Belmar residents were a little safer last year than in 2012 as the latest statistics from the State Police show that incidents of crime fell in the borough.

Crime in the borough overall was down 17 percent from 2012 figures, according to the State Police annual Uniform Crime Report, released this week.

The overall crime numbers are a combination of violent and nonviolent crimes tracked over the year. Violent crime dropped by 42 percent and nonviolent crime also fell by 9 percent compared to 2012, the report says.

There were fewer thefts, robberies, serious assaults and simple assaults and fewer cars were stolen last year compared to 2012, the report says. 

There were two rapes in town in 2013, on par with the number reported in 2012, according to the report.

But there were 20 percent more burglary reports last year than the year previous – the only of seven categories of crime where the numbers rose in 2013, the report says.

The burglary category is split into three subcategories: forcible entry, where something is broken to gain access; unlawful entry, where entry is through an unlocked door, for instance; and attempted forcible entry, where a burglary attempt was perhaps thwarted. The number of forcible entries reported in 2013 was down 17 percent, from 18 incidents in 2012 to 15 incidents in 2013. Unlawful entry, however, skyrocketed by 61 percent – from 18 incidents to 29 in 2013. Attempted forcible entry remained unchanged from 2012 at three incidents, the report says.

There were two reported rapes in town in 2012, the same number as last year, the report says.

Robberies were down by 80 percent, the report says, from five in 2012 to just one last year.

Serious assaults were down 20 percent, from five incidents in 2012 to four incidents last year. Simple assaults also dropped from 2012, with 129 reported two years ago to 90 reported last year, a decline of 30 percent, the report says.

There were 184 thefts in town last year, a decline of 12 percent from 209 thefts in 2012, the report says.

There were three cars stolen in Belmar last year, representing a 70 percent drop in car thefts from 2012, when 10 were stolen, the report says.