Crime In The City

    Property crimes are up in Chattanooga while violent crimes are down. The Chattanooga police department released its first quarter crime statistics in an effort to better inform you.

  Investigators say car break-ins are definitely up but you can take some direct steps to protect yourself. For example, you do not want to leave a G-P-S unit visible, or an empty mount. It's a dead giveaway to a thief.

 Last month, car break-in victims actually chased Betty Jo Oliver and her son after seeing her break-in to cars at an East Brainerd day care.

The chase stopped at the Collegedale Wal-Mart parking lot. Investigators say Oliver would case cars, many times left unlocked and running, and steal purses, GPS, anything loose. They believe she may have hit more than 50 people.

   And things stolen from auto vehicles is up dramatically in the first four months of the year. In 2008, 441 cars were hit in the first four months. This year, that number is 646. That is a 46.49% increase.

Especially during this recession, police say don't drop your guard. Chief Freeman Cooper said, "If they didn't see you put that item in the trunk they're not going to go in the trunk looking for it just in case its there. But if they walk past your vehicle and there is nothing laying there in plain sight. But the car right next to it has got a laptop in it, you can guess which one they are going to break a window on."

    Chief Cooper went on to say the department can't "arrest its way out of crime." He believes partnerships with other police agencies, businesses and families taking responsibility are the answers.

    The death of 30 year old Richard Ervin in the first week of this month marked the 10th homicide this year. That happened on Tunnel Boulevard. 10 homicides at this point in the year is up compared to the same time period of last year.

But violent crime is down by 15 percent with the exceptions of homicide and rape. We asked the chief about the gang problem in Chattanooga and the department's concerns for the upcoming summer.

  We asked him this question specifically. "On a scale of one to ten what number would you give to the gang problem in Chattanooga, one being the best, ten being the worst?" Chief Cooper responded, "Oh, I don't know we're somewhere around a six probably. We don't want it to get any worse, but we're not as bad as other major cities in our area."

This quarterly report is a detailed statistical release. It also includes specific crimes in certain parts of the city, including Brainerd. Click HERE to download the "Crime in the Brainerd Area" report. (Excel File)

To download the report comparing the crime from the first four months of this year versus last year, please go here. (Excel File)