Crime Rises Slightly in First Month of Year

January was a little busier than normal for local police according to a New Jersey State Police crime report from January 2013 that said crime was up about 15 percent from January 2012.

Fortunately, in Bridgewater, not all types of crime had increased, but the focus was on simple assaults and theft. Consider the 100 percent increase in simple assaults reported, year over year—it was 7 in 2012 and 14 in 2013.

Larceny thefts increased by about 18 percent, from 45 in January 2012 to 53 in January 2013.

In Bridgewater, all other forms of crime either decreased or remained about the same, and forcible entry burglaries actually decreased by 22 percent, from 9 incidents reported to 7.

And motor vehicle thefts actually decreased by about 67 percent, from 3 incidents in January 2012 to only 1 in January 2013.

With all these changes, Bridgewater saw a 14.9 percent increase in the crime rate for January.

Will it continue? We'll check next month, when Bridgewater By the Numbers looks again at the crime stats.