Rapid growth and decay of the family are contributing to the city's increase in crime, Centerville Police Chief James Oswald told the City Council in his annual report.
The city is attracting new residential and business growth, Oswald said, putting pressure on his 10-person department.Incidents requiring a response by the Police Department have doubled over the last decade, from 7,130 in 1982 to 14,330 last year, according to statistics the chief compiled for his annual report.
In 1982, the department averaged 1,018 incidents annually per officer, a figure that climbed to 1,433 in 1992. In the past five years, the average percentage of an officer's time on duty committed to responding to incidents ranged from 74 percent to 78 percent, leaving only just over 20 percent for patrolling and crime prevention, according to the chief's study.
Property crimes such as thefts, burglaries and malicious mischief incidents show the greatest increase in the past decade, and Oswald attributed much of the problem to juvenile offenders.
"Our department is having to deal with the decay of the family unit," Oswald told the council. "As parents, we're losing the battle with our children. We allow our children to get away with a lot more than we used to," he said.
Juveniles are out on the streets, late at night, without parental or adult supervision, the chief said.
"We're seeing juveniles as young as 12 or 13 involved in burglaries. They can hit as many as 20 or 30 cars in a night," the chief said.
Because of its semi-rural, residential character, Centerville also attracts professional criminals, the chief said.
"Professional burglars, the ones we catch, tell us they're attracted here. They see us as ripe and rich. We're naive. We leave our doors unlocked and make it easy for them," Oswald said.
Tougher educational, physical, and training standards will be needed in his department in the future, along with increased manpower and equipment as the city continues to attract new homes and businesses, the chief told the council.
The department handled 184 burglary reports in 1992, up from 113 in 1982 but down from a peak of 220 in 1990. Theft reports went from 159 a decade ago to 266 last year, the highest in the department's history.
And malicious mischief reports, which generally include vandalism and other juvenile-generated offenses, went from 71 in 1982 to 256 last year. There were 292 in 1991.