Grosse Pointe City

Serious crime down in 2011 in City

By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTE CITY — Statistics can be misleading. Technically, crime rose overall by 1 percent in 2011 from the previous year, but as new Public Safety Director Stephen Poloni pointed out at a Jan. 23 City Council meeting, that was actually only an increase of three crimes.

Perhaps more importantly, the most serious types of offenses — index crimes — fell last year by 2.5 percent, he pointed out.

According to the annual public safety report for 2011, there were no armed robberies or unarmed robberies — a drop from 2010, when there were two of each. Larceny was down as well, from 96 reported in 2010 to 80 in 2011. However, vehicle theft rose, from eight incidents in 2010 to 13 in 2011. By comparison, there were 11 vehicle thefts in 2009 and 18 in 2008. Twelve of the vehicles stolen last year were recovered elsewhere, the report indicated.

There was a substantial increase in the number of burglaries and home invasions — from seven in 2010 to 23 in 2011, the most since 2007, when there were also 23 such incidents. However, Poloni noted that one suspect was arrested in connection with roughly six to seven break-ins at businesses, clearing those cases. In addition, he said the Detective Bureau was able to secure several felony convictions in a few of the home invasions, and even recovered property stolen from a home in the 800-block of Rivard.

The number of juvenile offenses — by youths ages 16 and under — spiked from 151 cases in 2010 to 191 calls for service in 2011, which Poloni called a “significant increase.” He praised Public Safety Officer Christopher Cotzias, who runs the youth programs, for “doing an excellent job” following up on these incidents.

The total number of crimes last year was 302 — up from 299 in 2010. In addition, Poloni said calls for service rose by about 5.2 percent from the previous year, from 5,064 in 2010 to 5,322 in 2011.

Fire runs were up as well, from 375 in 2010 to 386 in 2011. But on a positive note, Poloni said building and residential fires were actually down about 50 percent, and fire losses were much lower last year — $26,000 — than they were in 2010, when that figure was around $573,000, due in large part to a series of garage fires on Neff and neighboring Lakeland triggered by downed electrical wires.

The City receives emergency medical services from Beaumont Medical Transportation Service Inc. — it switched from Grosse Pointe Park Public Safety’s ambulatory services in 2009. Poloni said Beaumont’s response time has been averaging four minutes, which is faster than the industry average. At a council meeting last year, retired City Public Safety Director James Fox said the Park had provided a similar response time.

Like some of their neighboring departments, the City’s is shrinking due to attrition. There were three retirements last year, including Fox, and Poloni said the department’s manpower was reduced by one position. He said they also trimmed the number of commanders.

Mayor Dale Scrace thanked Poloni for the “very detailed report.”

Several members of the department were honored with awards for going above and beyond the call of duty in various incidents last year, and Poloni told the council he hopes to acknowledge those honorees at a council meeting in February or March.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1047.