Alcohol Related Crimes Increased Dramatically In Newtown in 2017 vs 2016

District Judge Mick Petrucci calls underage drinking "the biggest issue that I believe we are facing within our Council Rock community."

As reported recently in Newtown Patch (here), District Judge Mick Petrucci said there are some “alarming trends within the community.” According to data provided by Petrucci, underage drinking cases that went through Newtown District Court “spiked by roughly 400 percent from 2016 to 2017.” DUI cases rose 20 percent over the same time period, he noted.

The District Court covers Newtown Township, Newtown Borough, Wrightstown Township and Upper Makefield. What about Newtown Township specifically? Do we see the same trends?

According to the Patch article, “Of the three police departments under his court's purview, Newtown Township had the biggest increase in criminal cases from 2016 to 2017.”

It should be noted that the Newtown Police Department serves both Newtown Township and Wrightstown (according to the 2018 budget, the township expects to receive nearly $700,000 from Wrightstown for providing police services).

Newtown Police Chief Henry Pasqualini reports COMBINED call data for both townships to the Newtown Board of Supervisors every month. His report on January 10, 2018, included data for 2017 and 2016 (see here). The following chart was prepared using that data, which includes calls for BOTH Newtown Township AND Wrightstown..

Upon my request, in the future Chief Pasqualini will include separate stats for Wrightstown in his reports to the Board of Supervisors. It will then be possible to calculate crime statistics specific for Newtown Township.

"We had a very busy year in 2017," Petrucci said. And one thing is for sure: in every case, lives are affected. "I take this very seriously," Petrucci said.

Posted on 31 Jan 2018, 11:49 - Category: Crime