La Grange Park Shows Drop in Crime Stats, Chief Says It's Not Unusual

A 17-percent drop in reported crime was applauded by La Grange Park officials at their April 26 board meeting.

The decrease was measured for the first three months of this year, during which 59 incidents were reported compared to 71 in the same period last year. The largest reduction was in criminal damage to property, with only nine incidents reported in the period compared to 17 in 2010.

While Police Chief Daniel McCollum was pleased with the numbers, he was quick to point out that a swing of such magnitude one way or the other is not unusual, given the small numbers of crime overall in the village.

Indeed, an updated report released May 9 with a year-over-year comparison of crimes through April, now has 2011 tied with last year at 90 apiece.

"I don't harp on [statistical swings] too much because we're dealing with such a small sample size," McCollum said.

The chief said he could not point to any one specific reason to explain the double-digit reduction in the first three months of this year.

"I suppose the kind of vicious winter that we had could be somewhat of a factor, but it's not anything that I want to take credit for as a department," McCollum said.

The crime rate in La Grange Park has remained rather steady over the 20 past years, he said.

"I'd like to say that there is one particular approach we are taking that is different but I can't really point to that," McCollum said. "It's a variety of contributing factors, I'm sure."

If anything, McCollum would like to think the credit goes to individual residents who are taking better precautions by locking their cars, bicycles, homes and garages.

"We've been harping on that for the 15-plus years I've been here," he said.