The holiday season may be a time for giving and caring for those less fortunate, but it can also be an opportunity for some to cash in on the fortunes of others.
Throw in a bad economy, rising unemployment and shrinking job security along with the stress and alcohol consumption that often comes with the holidays and you have the recipe for what many law enforcement officers deem crimes of opportunity.
However, this year, it’s unclear if the bad economy is leading to an increase in crime or not, and police won’t truly know until the end of the December, but it is something that it certainly on their minds this time of year.
`You tend to see these crimes of opportunity around this time of year,` said Lt. Thomas Heffernan of the Bethlehem Police Department.
Heffernan described `crimes of opportunity` as financial and property crimes, such as burglaries, larcenies, bank robberies, purse snatchings, credit card and identity theft and home invasions.
He said educating the public and reminding people to be careful and vigilant during the holidays is an important tool in preventing theft.
In Guilderland a string of ATM night-deposit robberies have been directly linked to the busy shopping season.
`This time of year, you have a lot of stores that are making night deposits because of the holidays,` said Lt. Daniel P. McNally of the Guilderland Police Department. The department has a year-round substation in Crossgates Mall, one of the largest shopping centers in the area.
Making malls safer
Crossgates recently implemented a new top-of-the-line security system this holiday season, but said it was not specifically added because crime is any worse this year.
Sara Boniface, the marketing director for Crossgates Mall said the mall is not adding any additional security officers for the holiday season, but there will be additional crossing guards and a shuttle service to help patrons get from the outer parking spaces to the mall entrance.
`Security is something we take seriously all year round,` she said.
According to Pyramid Management Group Inc., which owns the mall, and Purple Tree technologies, the system will be used as an early warning system that will be able to notify every store in the mall of both `natural and man-made,` emergency situations.
The system can transmit unlimited messages to key personnel and store managers within seconds.
`Safety is our No. 1 priority, and we anticipate using the system to notify our merchants and customers of weather situations and other emergencies,` said
Terri Walsh, general manager of Crossgates Mall.
Holiday spirits
Police said that aside from the usual holiday crime, the spirit of giving can sometimes give way to the giving of spirits.
`It’s not just a larceny, shoplifting or a drive off. It goes further than just that. What we also see is an increase in domestic violence,` Heffernan said. `Everyone can relate to the financial situation, but during the holidays, what do people do? They drink.`
Heffernan said he sees a connection between the large volume of domestic dispute calls during a time when people are financially strapped, stressed out and consuming alcohol.
`One in four women are affected by this crime,` said Maggie Fronk, the executive director Saratoga County Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services Center.
Fronk said that a tough economy during the holidays not only increases tension and raises the chances of domestic violence, but that a poor economy also makes it harder for victims to leave.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 75 percent of all cases of domestic violence, the offender is drunk at the time of the offense.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that the period between Christmas and New Year’s Day is the deadliest time of year for alcohol-related traffic deaths, citing 40 percent of all traffic fatalities involve alcohol-impaired drivers.
The average for the rest of the year is 28 percent, according to NHTSA.
Overall crime trends
As far as actual crime in New York, the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) issued a report on Sept. 15 that stated that crime was down overall. The finalized report analyzed crime statistics from 1998 until the end of 2007.
`Over the past 10 years, the crime rate in New York State has declined steadily. The largest reductions in crime rate were reported for motor vehicle theft, burglary and robbery,` the report stated. `Overall, the rate of index crimes per 100,000 resident population has declined 33 percent since 1998 and property crimes (burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft) were down 33 percent.`
The report goes on to say that not only is crime down, but that there’s a `significant reduction in the actual number of crimes reported.` The DCJS stated there were 188,870 fewer crimes reported in 2007 than in 1998, but that the population has increased by over one million since 1998.
However, according to the most recent FBI statistics, there was a 3 percent increase nationwide in bank robberies between January and September in 2008. But New York has been consistent in its dropping crime rate.
`The most recent 2007 crime data show that crime volume in New York State declined for the 17th consecutive year,` the DCJS report concluded.
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