Hickory police report second lowest crime rate since 1995

HICKORY, N.C. — The Hickory Police Department announced initial crime reporting statistics are the second lowest crime rate for the city since 1995.

It comes after two record setting years in 2013 and 2014, with an 18 percent and 13 percent drop in crime, respectively.

The 2015 numbers varied slightly from 2014, with an increase of 2.71 percent in part one crimes for Hickory, a city of approximately 40,000 residents.

Part one crimes include murder, rape, robbery, violent assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson.  The total number of incidents in these categories increased to 2,120 from the previous 2,064.

Part one crimes are broken into two categories, violent and property crimes.

The total number of violent crimes remained the same for the two-year period, while the increase was primarily seen in the property crimes category.

The biggest crime rate increase was larceny crimes, which includes 661 incidences of shoplifting for 2015. In recent years, Hickory police have taken a more aggressive approach with area shoplifters by arresting offenders instead of issuing the less stringent citation.

For repeat offenders, habitual larceny charges are now being utilized to help deter this illegal activity in conjunction with working closely with the District Attorney’s Office for aggressive prosecution.

The Hickory Police Department always strives to minimize the amount of crime and fear of crime the citizens of Hickory are subjected. The general trend since 2008 has been a steady decrease in our crime rates.

“HPD continues to focus on community policing to address crime in our city,” said Chief Tom Adkins.  “Our citizens play an important role in assisting HPD in reducing crime by reporting suspicious activity and securing their property.”

Cox Media Group