Dutchess on pace for big drop
Police agencies outside of New York City reported fewer violent crimes for the first six months of this year compared to the first half of 2022, according to figures released this week by New York State.
Violent crime fell by 6 percent in the 57 counties outside New York City, according to data reported by law-enforcement agencies, with a 27 percent drop in murders and a 6 percent drop in reported rapes. Robberies and aggravated assaults, the other two offenses that comprise violent crimes under FBI standards, fell by 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
The trend was also seen in Dutchess County, where the sheriff’s office reported 22 violent crimes through June compared to 62 all of last year. The 59 crimes reported by the state police in Dutchess during the same period is on pace to be much lower than the 215 from 2022.
Beacon reported nine violent crimes — seven aggravated assaults and two robberies — from January through June. Aggravated assaults accounted for 14 of the 17 violent crimes the city recorded in 2022. The Beacon Police Department has not reported any murders to the state since 2019, although there were killings in December 2021 and May 2022 that remain unsolved.
Cold Spring ended the first half of this year without a violent crime, and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department had 10, half the total from 2022.
The counties outside of New York City showed a significant decrease in gun crimes during the first half of this year, with the number of victims falling from 2,443 to 2,045. In New York City’s five boroughs, murders, rapes and robberies were each down 10 percent, according to the data.
The state also compiles statistics about property crimes. Through June, Beacon police reported 58 larcenies, five vehicle thefts and 3 burglaries. The city reported 135 property crimes in 2022 and 67 two years ago.
There have been four larcenies reported in Cold Spring through June. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department reported 97 property crimes in the same six-month period, 87 of them larcenies.
