Police report rise in crime

Thursday, January 26, 2012

MILFORD – Economic problems are driving increases in a number of crimes in Milford, particularly those involving assault and forgery, a top police official said in a recent meeting.

Some of the incidents involve juveniles who are, if only secondarily, affected by economic issues through their parents. And many of the issues the department faces are becoming more violent, even among juveniles.

But, said Capt. Chris Nervik there are a lot of good kids in town and a lot of ways to reach kids that are causing problems, so he is optimistic.

Nervik told members of the group Greater Milford Outreach that arrests in Milford hit 535 in 2010, an increase of 36 percent.

But he warned that statistics, particularly percentages, can be misleading and, as an example, gave specific numbers that, while seemingly low, still were concerning.

For instance, while incidents of stalking were up 300 percent, that was a jump from two in 2010 to eight in 2011, so the total number wasn’t great.

Still, he said, the department is concerned because “that’s six more people this year than last that were victims of stalking.”

There was an increase, too, in sexual assaults from 14 in 2010 to 26 in 2011.

“While the (total) might not be great,” Nervik said, “if you know someone that is the victim of a sexual assault, that’s a big number. When we see our numbers going up by that much, that’s concerning.”

The most startling statistic in terms of percentages that he reported to GMO was related to forgery: That was up 418 percent from 2010 to 2011.

“That’s a huge number,” said Nervik. “We’ve seen some forgeries this year where people have been opening accounts, going to another bank and writing checks on the account they just opened and there’s nothing in it. If they’re able to do it quickly enough, (they can get thousands of dollars). Fortunately for us, and for the banks, we were able to catch on to this. Still, I think that’s a trend because of the economy – people are hurting and looking for money.”

Economic woes are driving an increase in assaults, too, the department believes, because problems in the economy can cause problems in general.

“Some of it absolutely has to do with the economy,” said Nervik. “Across the board, I think people are concerned about how they’re going to pay their bills, about going to the grocery store. What ends up happening is that builds in everyone a certain level of stress” on top of life’s normal stress.

While it is adults who bear the brunt of economic stress because they are the ones most concerned with paying the bills, what they are feeling filters down to kids so teens – younger teens, older teens, and even some young adults – act out more.

“They’re frustrated and when someone pushes their button, it doesn’t take much,” Nervik said.

While the number of assaults was up in 2011, the captain said those numbers fluctuate, up and down, from year to year, but recently, the assaults that occur are becoming more serious.

And, he said in an interview later, some numbers are misleading because of repeat offenders: In a list of dozens of crimes, for instance, several could have been committed by one person. So, while the percentage of crimes being committed might be going up, the percentage of people committing them might not be increasing dramatically.

Plus, Nervik said, “assaults” can mean a number of things, from putting a hand on someone’s shoulder to punching someone in the face.

Still, there are important issues.

“The seriousness, the level, of our assaults has gone up,” he said. “We’ve had many more felony level assaults where people are being injured. It’s not just as, when I was growing up, a fist fight, or it was really more of a wrestling match. Now we’re seeing our officers are going to calls where weapons are being used. That could be anything from a stick to a knife. That’s concerning to us. It’s a thing we try to watch, to find out the cause.”

But he said that through the people attending the GMO meeting, including representatives of Bridges and the Boys & Girls Club of Souhegan Valley, “a lot of these things can start being addressed,” particularly when it comes to teenagers, even those of middle school age.

“These are the kids, if we can grab them now, if we can give them some training, give them some things that will help them alleviate some of those stressors, those are the kids that are going to be sitting at this table in a short time. Those are the kids that are going to go out and be a part of the adult world,” he said.

The key is to “grab this generation” and do something positive with it.

“We may not be able to make them change in the next six months or the next year, but in the next 10 years, in the next 20 years, it can have a huge impact and I think it can be very positive.”

The police do that, he said, even with traffic stops. Not all of them are punitive, although it could look that way to a passerby.

“Every car stop that the officer does, everyone driving by assumes that the person is getting a ticket or something bad happens,” Nervik said. “Sometimes it’s a simple reminder” perhaps about the law requiring people to brush snow off of their cars. “Sometimes that car stop has a very positive effect which really (resonates) with our kids.”

The tough approach isn’t always the best, he said.

“If you were to come out on Middle Street on a Friday night see kids hanging around, (some people) would say crack down on those kids. That’s not always the best way,” he said, although, sometimes “we do need to crack down on kids” because there are some kids that need to have that type of influence.

But not all of them.

“A lot of these kids,” said Nervik, “that seems to be all they get when what they need is, they need us to be there to try to stop them from doing whatever it is they are doing. But we as adults need to do it in such a way that they walk away saying, ‘All right, I’ve got to do the right thing. But you know what? That person actually treated me half-decently.’ There’s an incentive for them to go out and try to do the right thing.”

And there are lots of good kids in the Milford area, he said, mentioning a Souhegan High School student who recently spoke to the Milford Rotary Club, of which Nervik is a member. The girl went to Africa and saw an orphanage for kids with AIDS. She came home, got a job and now sends all of the money from that job to help those kids.

Her senior project is to raise money to build a kitchen for the orphanage and to take a group of Souhegan students over to Africa to help.

“To me, that’s the glass half full. There are good kids out there,” Nervik said. “At the end of the day, I’m one of those people who sees there’s still hope, still good people, especially youth, still people doing good things, still striving to better themselves.”

Michael Cleveland can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 301, or mcleveland@cabinet.com.