Burglaries, Other Thefts Help Push Crime Total In Philadelphia Higher In 2011
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Crime was up about two percent in Philadelphia last year. Homicides were up, but a driving force behind the overall increase in crime was burglary and other thefts.
There were just over 325 murders in Philadelphia in 2011, but there were over 58-thousand burglaries and thefts, car thefts, retails thefts and thefts from cars and people.
And while continuing to focus on violent crime, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said police will be giving a lot of focus and attention to these so-called non violent crimes -- often committed by repeat offenders.
"Yeah, homicide, it certainly instills fear in people to an extent," said Ramsey. "But the vast majority of people are not impacted by homicides or shootings. But things like theft, theft from auto, burglary, those are things the average, ordinary citizen is impacted by."
And according to police, one crime trend pushing the numbers is the theft of copper pipe and wiring from properties.
