Police Report Major Crimes Drop in St. Charles

St. Charles saw a drop in major crimes for the second year in a row.

According to figures released by the city police department Thursday morning, reported majors crimes last year were at their lowest rate in the past five years.

“We are very pleased that we’re able to continue the low crime rate in the City of St. Charles; we will continue to address trends proactively wherever they are identified,” said police Chief James Lamkin in a statement to the media.

For record keeping purposes, “major crimes” or Part I crimes, include murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and battery, burglary, felony theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.

Overall, there was an increase in criminal sexual assaults from 10 in 2009 to 13 last year. Police note that the sexual assaults increased because of a single incident resulting in nine counts.

Robberies increased from three in 2009 to seven last year. One incident of home invasion includes two counts, according to police.

The largest decrease came in the number of felony thefts. Those dropped from 662 cases in 2009 to 508 last year or by about 23 percent, according to police. Meanwhile, aggravated assault or battery cases decreased by 43 percent, with 46 cases in 2009 and 26 last year.

Source: City of St. Charles Police