Orangetown Police Share 2011 Numbers, Accreditation Details

The Orangetown Police Department completed the work on its five-year New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation in January

The program, which began in 1989, evaluates a police department based on 133 standards broken into three categories --agency organization, training standards and operational issues.

Orangetown Lt. Don Butterworth said the department was told by the evaluators that they are being recommended for accreditation, though the board still has to make it official. The certificate will be presented at the town board police commission meeting in May. 

"The benefit is somebody from the state said that your procedures are in order," Orangetown Police Chief Kevin Nulty said. 

"They look at how we handle our money, how we handle drugs and how we handle weapons," said Lt. Don Butterworth, who was the accreditation officer for Orangetown. "They spend a lot of time on that. If you have a flaw in that system, it can cause major issues. That is a liability to the town if we are not doing it properly."

Butterworth estimated that the process cost between $5,000 and $8,000. He said the process will be easier the next time around because the program is working online rather than by paper going forward. 

Agency organization focuses on financial management, personnel management and record keeping. Training standards include supervisory, specialized and technical training. Operational issues focus on things from patrols and high-speed pursuits to the handling of evidence.

2011 Orangetown Crime Analysis

Butterworth also gave a crime report for 2011 to the town board, focusing on where crimes are committed and how often.

The total calls received by the department dropped again to 30,534. They have gone from 55,321 in 2008 to 45,061 in 2009 and 34,109 in 2010. Nulty has explained this trend in the past as part of a change in how the department operates. 

Orangetown did see a drop in burglaries from 67 in 2010 to 50 in 2011. There had been a spike in that particular area in 2010 due to a burglary ring. Butterworth said there have been a string of burglaries nearby, mostly in Bergen County.

"We got hit by a couple of them," Butterworth said. "We are keeping an eye on it."

Robberies were also down from 19 to eight, though overall felony arrests went up from 88 to 94. 

The number of DWI-DWAI arrests dropped to 69 after going up to 72 in 2010. 

Here is a comparison of the numbers for different types of crimes in Orangetown for 2010 and 2011 based on Monthly Activity Summaries.

Crime

2010

2011

Aggravated Assault

25

40

All Other Larceny

426

335

Arson

0

1

Burglary

67

50

Drug Violations

127

71

Forcible Fondling

6

8

Homicide

0

1

Kidnapping

3

4

Motor Vehicle Theft

15

12

Rape

4

3

Robbery

19

12

Simple Assault

80

85

Weapon

23

11

The monthly summaries use how the state classifies each crime, not the department's internal classification. That can lead to small differences in the numbers.

For example, the state classifies 12 crimes committed in Orangetown in 2011 as robberies, but only eight of those were classified as robberies by the department.