Derby Police Chief Gerald Narowski responded Thursday to recent statements made by Democratic mayoral hopeful Dan Foley, Jr. about the city’s crime rate.
In a speech accepting his party’s nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Anthony Staffieri, Foley said Derby has one of the highest crime rates in the area.
The video below is from Foley’s speech. The public safety talk begins at 3 minutes, 56 seconds. Story continues after video.
On his campaign’s website, Foley pointed to an incident July 23 at RJ’s, a bar on Elizabeth Street, where someone fired a gun into the air during a brawl in the parking lot. Click here to read the entry.
“Recent violence and other crimes continue to plague the City of Derby. Drive-by shootings, stabbings and gunshots are major reasons why Derby has one of the highest crime rates in New Haven County,” Foley’s campaign volunteers wrote on the site.
Narowski spoke about crime during Thursday’s Board of Aldermen meeting. He did not mention Foley or his campaign, but it was obvious he was reacting to the candidate’s statements.
Narowski warned against interpreting crime stats as gospel. For example, the chief said Bridgeport recently saw its overall crime rate drop — but the number of homicides increased.
He said Derby responds to roughly 16,000 calls for service a year. Only about 400 of those calls — or 2.5 percent — are “part I offenses.” That is, serious crimes as classified and tracked by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.
The Uniform Crime Report — or UCR — is a national database of crime. The part I offenses include aggravated assault, arson, burglary, motor vehicle thefts, murder, rape and robbery.
Derby sees more than its share of property crimes — especially shoplifting and thefts from cars — because of the many retail centers along the Route 34 corridor.
While the city was home to a rash of violence in 2009 and 2010 — particularly in the Hawkins Street area — the players were few and they were connected to each other, the chief said. The majority of the players are now serving prison time for a variety of crimes, Narowski said.
“Lots of people went to jail over these crimes during the last two years,” Narowski said.
In his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for mayor, Foley said he would establish police foot patrols in Derby — and secure grants to have security cameras installed in high-crime areas.
Narowski said Thursday the department often has an officer on foot in the area of Anson and Hawkins streets, Derby crime hot spots. The city often spends overtime to put an officer there.
In addition, the department has been trying to secure grant money to get cameras, the chief said.
However, federal agencies responsible for awarding the grants either give them to cities to larger cities with higher crime rates, the chief said, or the matching contribution needed to snare the grant is too expensive for Derby.
Crime stats from 2009 and 2010 show increases in aggravated assaults, assaults and domestic violence. But the raw numbers are relatively small. For example — five aggravated assaults in 2009 compared to 18 in 2010.
Click here for our story from February about Derby crime stats.
Click here for a state website that tracks crime rates.
Foley Reacts
In an interview Friday, Foley said his statements about Derby crime were not meant as criticism directed at the chief or the officers of the Derby Police Department.
“Chief Narowski and the police department are doing a wonderful job and the police has my full support,” Foley said.
The candidate said City Hall needs to be more vocal when it comes to crime in Derby. He repeated the ideas he unveiled during his speech earlier this month — including the call for surveillance cameras at Derby hot spots.
Crime, the perception of crime and quality of life issues are a major concern among residents, Foley said. City Hall must acknowledge it as an issue and have a discussion about it, Foley said.
“Data can be interpreted in many different ways, but the bottom line is that crime is crime,” Foley said. “People I talk to are upset about it.”