Utica Police Department Reports Lowest Murder Rate In Years

Utica, NY (WIBX) - The Utica Police Department is doing more with less, as the agency boasts its lowest murder rate in almost a decade.

According to Police Chief Mark Williams, Utica had only one reported murder in 2012.

The incident was the July shooting death of Jermaine Stubbs, a culinary student at Mohawk Valley Community College.

Williams attributes the lower total to his Criminal Investigations Division and the department's relationships with other agencies.

"We all know we're dealing with a declining budget and less personnel to do the same amount of work," Williams said. "But, we're doing the best we can and I'm just hoping that we can keep it that way."

He also says though the number is great, other crime numbers need improvement.

"October was the last update, and we were in the double digit increases for overall," Williams said. "It's just that some areas we saw remarkable decreases, and one of them was the homicide rate. But, the areas where we are seeing a large increase is our robbery rate and our larcenies, so we're also very mindful of that."

He says the average murder rate has been between five and eight each year, though the number has decreased from a high of eight, in 2005. In 2011, four murders took place, and three occurred in 2010.