Crime falls in Pennsylvania, but rises slightly in West Reading, Wyomissing

Overall crime in Pennsylvania fell by 5.4 percent in 2009, down from more than 1,000,000 the year before, according to the state's most recent annual crime report released earlier this week. Though the numbers were much smaller in West Reading and Wyomissing – 830 and 973, respectively – each borough experienced a slight uptick from the year before, according to the report.

The state's Uniform Crime Reporting system places offenses in two categories: Part I is for serious, mostly violent crimes like murder, rape, assault, burglary, arson, etc., while Part II offenses are less violent and include drug offenses, vandalism, weapons offenses, drunken driving, disorderly conduct, etc.

No rapes were reported in either borough in 2009, a drop from 2008 when West Reading had three and Wyomissing two.

But West Reading reported six robberies last year, an increase from four the year before. A larger increase came in the number of assaults reported: 23 in 2009 vs. 17 in 2008. Wyomissing experienced a slight drop in robberies -- six in 2009 vs. seven in 2008 – and in the number of assaults, which dropped to three last year from five the year before.

The boroughs aren't necessarily getting more violent. The highest number of offenses for either borough was in the category of larceny, defined as nonviolent thefts: shoplifting, theft from vehicles, theft of bicycles, purse-snatching and pickpocketing, etc. In West Reading there were 218 such incidents in 2009, and 507 in Wyomissing. That marks a 5 percent increase from the previous year for West Reading, and a 10 percent hike in Wyomissing.

In the Part II category – which, let's be honest, is this blog's reason for living – the overall numbers went down for each borough. West Reading reported a total of 542 such crimes in 2009, a more than 12 percent drop from the 618 reported in 2008. Wyomissing also saw a decline, albeit smaller: 407 Part II offenses in 2009 compared with 430 in 2008.

In West Reading, the majority of these were disorderly conduct offenses: 151 in all, and actually a slight uptick from the 148 reported in 2008. Cases of vandalism came in second, with 105 reported in 2009. Good news for residents is that there were fewer cases of that last year than in 2008, when 160 incidents of vandalism were reported.

In Wyomissing, the largest category of Part II crimes was drunken driving: 85 incidents for 2009. The year before, the borough reported 56 such cases. Next came fraud, with 66 cases reported last year, followed by vandalism, where there were 63 incidents.

The number of drug cases fell for West Reading – 28 in 2009 from 41 the year before – but rose in Wyomissing, which went from 32 in 2008 to 41 last year.

And what about our neighbor to the east? The city of Reading saw violent crime drop in 2009 by 10.4 percent, and nonviolent crime – the Part II category – saw an 18.2 percent drop from 2008, according to the state's report.

You can find the 2009 Uniform Crime Report here.