Local arrests are surging - up 60 percent from this time last year, according to statistics kept by the Police Department.
Last year at this time, police had made 287 arrests; this year, that figure is 459.
That's the most significant jump Chief Richard Stillman can remember, he told selectmen earlier this week. But, to a certain extent, a full police blotter indicates a safer town, he said.
One sharply rising trend from the previous three years - "crimes against the person" - has remained steady in 2008, according to Stillman. The figure, a statistical measure of person-on-person crimes such as homicides, assaults, rapes and robberies, increased from 44 to 93 between 2005 and 2007 - a rise of 110 percent.
Through July, though, the total number of crimes against the person - 74 - is the same as it was for that period last year.
The plateau is largely a result of aggressive policing, Stillman said. This year, police officers are making arrests rather than requesting court-issued summonses, he said. Whereas before when a summons might have been considered enough, police are now pulling out the handcuffs - "whenever we have prior cause," he explained.
The recent significant increase in "crimes against the person" was "just ridiculous," Stillman said. It's good to see, he said, that the department's direct efforts seems to have "started to stem" the tide.
Another explanation for the increase in arrests is economic. A similar spike occurred during the recession in the early 1990s, Stillman said. Even general calls for service are up from last year, he said. The department has already received 1,000 more than it had by this point last year.
