Report: City crime down over 13 percent last year

The number of serious crimes in Royal Oak dropped significantly last year – 13.58 percent – over what it was in 2018.

Those figures and others were outlined this week in the city police department’s annual report.

Serious, or Part A, crimes include offenses such as murder, robbery, burglary, auto thefts, forgery, and felony assaults.

Those serious crimes dropped from a total of 1,664 in 2018 to 1,438 last year.

Less violent, or Part B, crimes during the same period fell by about 11 percent, from 1,159 to 1,030. Crimes in that category range from disorderly conduct, drunken driving and some fraud offenses to violent family incidents and non-forcible sex offenses.

Though crime in general has dropped nationally in recent years, the decline in crimes reported last year was greater than the general trend, said Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O’Donohue.

“In last year’s (report) we beat the state average by 50 percent,” he said. “I think all the credit goes to the officers we have. Our road patrol is very proactive and they work well with the detective bureau. When we do have crime we get on it quickly and get cases solved to keep incidents from becoming crime sprees.”

Royal Oak police have been engaging with the community and several years ago started a popular Citizens Police Academy.

The seven-week course takes 25 residents at a time and began in 2016. Interest is high enough that police have to turn away more people than they can accept.

Residents get an up-close, hands-on experience, taking part in everything from riding along with an officer for a shift to learning about an actual criminal case in the detective bureau and using a simulator handgun in projected police scenarios to decide when to shoot.

Classes also focus on investigative techniques, SWAT team work and defense techniques.

“Residents that come through the program really become a part of the family and stay in touch with the officers,” O’Donohue said.

Typically, the department offers the academy in the fall.

It may be delayed this year because police will be moving into the new 40,000-square-foot police station near the Royal Oak courthouse, probably in October, O’Donohue said.

The existing police station, built in the early 1960s, is just over half that size of the new building.

The new building is designed for efficiencies that will require fewer employees to execute tasks like processing arrestees.

O’Donohue said the goal is to have fewer police officers tied up with processing procedures so “officers can be out on the road where they belong.”