Crime on rise in Sussex and Warren

[Kire]

Crime on rise in Sussex and Warren
State Police statistics show a trend of decline elsewhere in Jersey
Friday, July 22, 2005
BY JIM LOCKWOOD AND MIKE FRASSINELLI
Star-Ledger Staff

While crime in New Jersey generally fell, Sussex and Warren counties bucked that trend, according to annual figures released yesterday by the New Jersey State Police.

Sussex had a 15 percent rise in criminal offenses from 2003 to 2004, and Warren's figure rose 5 percent. Statewide, crime dropped 4 percent, according to the Uniform Crime Report.

A 13 percent hike in juvenile arrests in Sussex helped fuel rising crime there, where adult arrests rose 3 percent. Barbara Adolphe, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Prevention and Counseling in Newton, which runs various youth and adult programs, said a growing drug problem feeds into other crimes, such as burglaries and thefts, which also were up big in Sussex, at 25 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

"It's a warning sign," Adolphe said of juvenile arrests. "It's saying, "Here's a trend, this is going up, and what are you going to do about it?' It's a matter of pulling together as a community and saying what are we going to do to prevent our kids from going down this path and committing more crime."
........

Warren County Prosecutor Thomas S. Ferguson said the case of the serial killer was an unusual circumstance and that the increases were too small to indicate a trend.

More: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/sussex/index.ssf?/base/news-0/112201319373000.xml&coll=1

[jojo54]

1. Glad I'm in the southern part of the state!! n/t