NAUGATUCK — The borough’s crime rate for the second quarter of 2011 dropped 45 percent compared 2010, according to statistics from the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
The numbers are totals for certain felony crimes – murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson – during April, May, and June.
For that same time period in 2010 to 2011, Naugatuck’s index crime total went from 224 to 124 incidents.
Lt. Robert Harrison, spokesman for the Naugatuck Police Department, said there’s no specific reason for the drop in crime.
“Sometimes things just happen for no particular reason,” Harrison said.
Harrison said the police didn’t make any concerted efforts that were different than what they did last year.
“It’s not that Naugatuck has been seeing a significant increase in any crime, so a decrease is certainly welcome,” Harrison said.
Harrison explained a single spate of crime by one perpetrator, like a series of car break-ins, for example, could make a big difference in the final statistics.
“It tends to be things like that that cause such a big swing,” he said.
Naugatuck is not the only town that saw a big change. Ansonia’s crime rate went up 56 percent, while Cheshire’s went down 32 percent. Madison had a 51 percent decrease, Middlebury went down 41 percent and Shelton increased 61 percent.
Smaller towns saw bigger percentage changes due to the smaller number of total crimes. Big cities like Hartford (-2 percent) and New Haven (-8 percent) saw smaller swings in their total crime index.
Naugatuck Crime Index
2010 2011
Murder 0 0
Rape 1 1
Robbery 3 3
Agg. Assault 4 0
Burglary 27 14
Larceny 174 95
Car Theft 15 11
Arson 0 0
Total 224 124
The above table compares the index crime rates for Naugatuck from the April through June of 2010 to the same time period in 2011.
