Crime & Safety

Thefts, Fraud Up in Marple, Number of Police Calls Down in Newtown

Both Marple and Newtown police chiefs their monthly police report for March.

Both Chief Tom Murray and Chief Dennis Anderson recently presented their monthly reports for the month of March at municipal meetings this month.

According to Murray, 26 theft incidents occurred in the month of March which is "up a little bit from the month of February," said Murray.

Fraud, a crime that's becoming more present in the township, where Marple saw a 41 percent increase in January of this crime, Murray said it is "becoming the crime of the future," which includes credit card fraud.

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There were 12 incidents of fraud in March, according to Murray.

"It ties our detectives up enormous amounts of time trying to track each one of these down," continued Murray. "And, unfortunately, very few end up in prosecution.

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In addition to fraud, Murray said vandalism increased with 10 more incidents in the month of March since the last report, totaling to 16 vandalism incidents in March.

Something else to look out for in Marple, solicitors will begin soliciting again as the weather becomes nicer. But Murray said that the is in place and will continue to be used for peddlers.

Approximately six to eight licenses and permits have been granted since the beginning of the year, according to Murray, which is down a little. Murray said if someone did not register to solicit in the township, they will not receive a second opportunity to solicit.

Meanwhile in Newtown Township, Anderson reported there were a total of 751 calls for the month of March. The highest number of calls at 79 were for medical emergency while 73 calls, the second highest number, were made for business building checks.

In the , which covered both months of January and February, 1,536 police calls were made and 7 DUIs were issued. In the chief's latest report, 5 DUIs were issued.

In addition to March's report, a total of 38 township alarms were answered, 29 suspicious persons, vehicles or circumstances were investigated.

In motor vehicle and traffic incidents, 44 traffic citations were issued and 14 vehicle accidents were reported.


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