Flossmoor’s crime rate in 2014 dropped sharply from the year before, according to figures from the village’s police department released this week.
Police Chief Michael Pulec said crime statistics for last year dropped 30 percent from 2013 in the so-called Part 1 categories, which include homicide, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated battery, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.
In 2014, Pulec said, Flossmoor had an overall crime rate of 1.360 per 100,000 persons. The village’s population is slightly less than 10,000. Pulec said the 2014 crime rate was the second lowest in the last 13 years. The 2013 crime rate was 1.805.
Pulec submitted the crime statistics as part of a compilation of police department achievements and goals accompanying a budget package that was presented to village board members this week. The budget package includes information from every village department and will be used in formulating the village’s spending plan for the next year. The new budget is to be approved by the end of April.
Pulec said Part 1 crimes dropped in every category except sexual assault, where two incidents were reported, as opposed to one incident last year. Highlights included a 60 percent drop in burglaries and a 75 percent drop in robberies from 2013, when 33 burglaries and nine robberies were reported.
“As always, it is noted that our relatively low number of incidents lends itself to unusual percentage fluctuations, and these statistics should be evaluated based on multi-year trends,” Pulec said. “Flossmoor continues to be one of the lowest in both the immediate area and the south suburbs.”
Flossmoor’s 2014 crime statistics have been submitted to the Illinois State Police as part of its Uniform Crime Reporting program. The State Police yearly releases a summary of crime in every county and municipality in Illinois.
As for notable achievements last year, Pulec pointed to the village’s E-Cop email community notification program, which continues to add participants and now has more than 1,600 subscribers. The national average email click-to-open and viewing rate is 40 percent, he said. In Flossmoor the open rate for E-Cop subscribers is 68 percent.
The police department experienced numerous reports of phone scams occurring at businesses and with residents, he said. Through E-Cop, the department was able to inform residents and business owners of these scams to reduce the risk of becoming a victim. E-Cop was also helpful in addressing the community following a home invasion and sexual assault last year, he said.
