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Carroll Valley sees decrease in crime rate

Danielle Ryan

(1/2018) Carroll Valley Borough's Police Chief Richard Hileman was proud to report that crime in Carroll Valley saw an overall decrease in 2017. During the police end of the year report, Chief Hileman briefed the Borough Council on the police department overview for 2017.

In 2017 the police department responded to 2,213 calls to service. He noted this as an 8.1% decrease in call volume from last year. Of the calls that were received, a majority related to residents calling for information, either to report suspicious people or activity, or just notifying the police about a concern. Other calls included animal complaints, alarms, warrant searches and assistance to fire and EMS emergencies. Of these calls, there were 148 uniform crime reports, which was a 22% decrease from prior years. Of these crime reports, 80 were filed as part 1, which is a 25% decrease from last year, and the remaining 68 reports were filed as part 2 minor offenses, showing a 19% decrease. Twenty-four of the part 1 offenses occurred at Ski Liberty.

The police report also showed that the criminal clearance rate for major crimes in the Carroll Valley Police Department is 55%, which is well over the state average of 32%. If the Ski Liberty offenses were taken out of the equation, then the department is actually seeing a 71% clearance rate for major instances. As explained by Chief Hileman, crime related occurrences that take place at Ski Liberty almost always involve a visitor from outside Carroll Valley committing crime, and then vacating the Borough. These crimes, therefore, become more difficult to trace and handle.

706 citations, both traffic and non-traffic, were issued in 2017. This is a 19% decrease from 2016. Of these citations, 271 were traffic related, which is 26% lower than the year prior.

In other Carroll Valley news, Borough Manager David Hazlett asked the Council to approve the contract for a new office at the Sewer Treatment Facility. The current office and laboratory has been slowly deteriorating, however, Borough staff were hoping to get the trailer through the winter. Unfortunately, one of the pipes burst and caused the entire floor to become unstable and dangerous. Anyone who enters the trailer is susceptible to falling through the floor. As it stands now, the trailer is unsafe and hazardous for staff.

Hazlett presented the Council with a twelve-month contract to rent an office from ModSpace. The contract is for $4,326.92, which is approximately $280 per month, but does not include the cost for electrician fees to connect the electric to the office. The money would be coming out of the sewer funds, so an adjustment will need to be made to the spending funds for this department in the near future. However, this would be a short-term solution to a problem that needs immediate attention.

Council unanimously voted to approve the contract as presented noting the unknown additional cost of electrician fees.

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