(Updated) County TAPS policing credited with cutting crime rate by double digits

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image002The TAPS policing program is showing results in New Castle County, although heroin-related property crime remains a challenge,  Chief Elmer Setting reported.

Since its inception three years ago, strides have been made particularly in the high crime areas targeted in the program, a county release stated.

A sharp-eyed citizen did find that  the 22 percent drop in crime over three years was incorrect. County Police have reduced that figure to 16.4 percent.

County Police last week released  information indicating that the program has contributed to a 22 percent drop in crime.

TAPS uses data to predict crime and get officers in the correct locations before the offenses occur.

Used in the data are “quality of life” calls that include minor offenses, such as disorderly subjects, speeding cars, loud radios, suspicious persons or vehicles, fights, people loitering on street corners and drug dealing.

Versions of the program have been used throughout the county, including New York City, which has seen a dramatic drop in its crime rate.

“There is no program or initiative in existence that will completely eliminate all crime,” Setting said as TAPS began in 2013.  “We expect to see an increase in calls for police service as the weather becomes warmer and as we continue to encourage our residents to call 911.

“We believe that by utilizing our TAPS initiative, we will be able to position ourselves to proactively combat the issues that impact our communities and focus on often overlooked quality of life crimes to prevent them from becoming more serious crimes,” he said.

On the minus side, property related crimes have not been impacted as greatly as other crimes.

The combination of the data and community  have led to a new approach to property crime with “Property Crime Specialists” on each patrol squad.  Those specialists received more training in complex investigative methods and began to work closely with detectives in the Criminal Investigation Unit.  Selected “Evidence Specialists” on patrol squads also received additional advanced training in the collection and preservation of evidence.

Over the past three years, crime in New Castle County is down 22.2 percent.   Homicides in New Castle County over the three year period fell 13.2 percent and shootings/shots fired complaints dropped 29.4 and 28.1 percent, respectively.  The Property Crime Initiative also helped drive down burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts by 32.9 percent, 23.9 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively.

A factor in property crime is heroin use.

“As we continue using TAPS and re-enforcing its success, we constantly see the need to directly attack the heroin problem,” Setting said.

“Our persistence in that attack, however, will not always be the type that results in arrests,” he added. “We need to educate our youth about the drug before they can be pressured to try it – or get addicted — and offer treatment to those already in the deadly downward spiral of heroin addiction.”

“I am very proud of Col. Setting’s insight in developing and initiating the Targeted Analytic Policing System, as well as the New Castle County Police Department’s tremendous success in its implementation,” County Executive Thomas P. Gordon stated.

“TAPS’ first three years also demonstrate the need for continued resources to fight thefts that our police have determined are being committed by drug addicts stealing property and cash to finance their heroin use,” Gordon said. “New Castle County remains deeply committed to fighting every level of the heroin epidemic that we all know continues to destroy lives and families throughout our county and our country.”

 

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