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News brief: Centralia police chief encouraged by sharp drop in crime

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Criminal activity in Centralia during the first six months of this year is showing a dramatic reversal from the sharp uptick that was measured in 2010, Police Chief Bob Berg reported yesterday.

Violent crime is down 29 percent and property crime is down 38 percent compared with the first six months of last year, according to Berg.

Berg notes crime in Centralia seems to be following the pattern of 2009, and continues a six-year downward trend.

The department believes its enforcement work has had somewhat of an effect of reducing the number of crimes in the city, but Berg says crime is a community problem and police can’t take too much credit when the numbers are good, nor too much blame when the numbers are bad.

Most significantly changed are felony assaults. In the first six months of 2010, the department saw 38, while in the same period this year it saw only 18, according to a news release from the Centralia Police Department.

Burglaries dropped much as well, with 117 during the first half of last year but only 68 in the first half of this year.

“We are at a loss to explain the significant single-year spike in criminal activity in 2010, other than we had several known criminals released back into the community,” Berg said in his news release.

The statistics are as measured by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Reporting system, and looks at certain offense as indicators of overall activity.

The chief reports that violent gang activity continues to be suppressed in Centralia, although incidents of graffiti tagging are on the rise.

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Read about 2010 crime statistics in Lewis County, here [1]