Crime in Providence rises 12% in 2008

PROVIDENCE – Crime in the city rose 12 percent last year, ending a five-year decline, although the number of homicides continued to fall, the Providence Police Department’s Col. Dean M. Esserman announced today.
“A particular trend … was muggings for cell phones, which can be easily sold or used immediately,” the department said in a statement. City police have been reaching out to mobile-phone providers “to explore technological solutions” to the growing problem.
“The slumping economy” also was cited, as Providence saw a “significant increase” in housebreaks in foreclosed properties and other abandoned homes by thieves seeking to remove the copper piping and sell it for cash. “Police intervened by making frequent visits to scrap metal businesses that were purchasing the copper,” Esserman said, and by year’s end, the trend had declined.
The number of murders fell last year to 13 from the 14 reported in 2007. And the number of sexual assaults was unchanged at 57. But aggravated assaults rose 23 percent to 2,006 last year from 1,635 the year before.
Meanwhile, auto thefts citywide continued to decline in 2008, falling 4 percent to 1,505 from 1,574 the year before.
Over the summer, Esserman noted, the Providence Police and the R.I. State Police partnered to form the Neighborhood Response Teams (NRT), which patrolled high-risk areas throughout the city. Joining them were members of the FBI’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA).
News and information from the City of Providence and its Police Department are available at www.ProvidenceRI.com.