INDReporter

Hub City crime rises

by Walter Pierce

Lafayette saw a 9 percent hike in overall crime in 2013 compared to 2012, according to new data released Monday by the Lafayette Police Department.

Lafayette saw a 9 percent hike in overall crime in 2013 compared to 2012, according to new data released Monday by the Lafayette Police Department.

According to the LPD, there were sharp increases in reported rapes and robberies, up 55 and 35 percent, respectively. Thefts (+14 percent) and auto thefts (+23) also rose substantially. Homicides dipped from 12 to 10 while assaults (-1) and burglary (-4) were flat.

Overall the LPD investigated 10,154 reported crimes in all categories in 2013 compared to 9,346 in 2012, although arrests of both adults (-4 percent) and juveniles (-16) fell from 2012 totals. Police also responded to fewer calls for service - 243,020 in '12 versus 234,406 in 2013.

[Editor's Note: Lafayette schools Superintendent Pat Cooper, in an email to an IND staff member, gives partial credit for the drop in juvenile arrests to the LPSS, writing that the school system's "health and wellness program including the no expulsion policy with alternative settings is having a huge effect.]