Criminal Elements

Crime in Pottstown demands hard questions, community dialogue

 

The subject of crime in Pottstown raises opinions and emotions, some rooted in facts and some not. 

 

Crime statistics show that serious crimes like murder, rape and arson have not increased in recent years, and 2014 saw 13 percent fewer major crimes and a decrease of more than 16 percent in all reportable crimes.

 

Pottstown has not had more than two murders per year since 2007.

 

Last year, the only crimes substantially higher than the 10-year-average were fraud, drug violations, offenses against family and drunkenness.

 

In a comparison with other towns, data showed Pottstown’s crime rates were far higher in 2012  than Pennsylvania and the United States as a whole — and even higher than U.S. cities with similar-sized populations. But in that comparison, Pottstown is rated with wealthy and poor municipalities of similar population. 

 

In a more accurate comparison to towns with similar incomes and population density, Pottstown is neither the best nor the worst. 

 

In urban comparisons with Norristown, Coatesville, and Reading,  Pottstown topped out in three of the major crime categories, having the highest rape, larceny and arson rates that year. It tied with Reading, which had the highest assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft rates in 2012, while Coatesville had the highest murder rate and Norristown had the highest robbery rate in 2012.

 

Statistics are only part of the story about crime, but they are a factor, too often ignored, that divides perception from reality. 

 

In a three-part series that appeared Sunday through Tuesday in The Mercury, staff writer Evan Brandt analyzed Pottstown’s crime statistics, interviewed police officers and the district attorneys from the three counties which comprise this region, talked to families and a citizen activist who manages the Facebook page, Crime in Pottstown. 

 

The result focused on the reality of crime in the borough, a reality that cannot be brushed aside in the interests of the town’s image or exaggerated by the naysayers who lament “the way things used to be.”

 

Only by asking the hard questions about crime can we work as a community along with police to combat it. Our series highlighted the fact that a concentrated and beefed-up Community Response Unit is working to address citizens’ concerns about drug crimes and discussed several ideas of the police department leadership, particularly Chief Richard Drumheller’s advocacy for street cameras and a user-friendly tip line to get actionable information about crimes.

 

Drumheller and others interviewed for the series made the point that crime in Pottstown, as in most urban areas, may not be more prolific but it is more violent. And it is gun violence, especially as it relates to drug trafficking, that determines safety — and the perception of safety. 

 

Incidents involving shootings have caused residents to march in the streets last spring, hold a prayer vigil in December, and show up at a recent meeting with police seeking answers to their concerns.

 

Asking questions of police, displaying a community show of support, joining hands in faith, and beginning a dialogue based on fact and not conjecture — these are the ways in which Pottstown gains ground against crime.

 

Silence is the biggest obstacle to catching criminals, police say, referring to the reluctance of witnesses to come forward with information. But silence about the factors in housing, lifestyle, and complacency that contribute to crime is just as damaging.

 

If Pottstown is to fix the perceptions about crime in town, it has to first fix the reality. That may take asking some difficult questions and even more difficult, working together toward answers.