Keeping crime in check

By Tom Blakey

Transcript Staff Writer

Norman Police Chief Phil Cotten believes Norman is a “safe and wonderful place to live,” and he’s compiled the statistics to prove it.

“Norman is a wonderful place to live from a safety standpoint,” Cotten said. “A resident is more likely to get it by a car than criminal activity.”

In comparision to similar sized cities, Norman fares well in keeping crime in check, Cotten said.

“There are no bad places to live in Norman. We haven’t experienced some of the bad things happen here as they have in bigger cities.”

“But Norman has always had a real low crime rate,” he said over coffee on Jan. 24. “Norman has always had a relatively low crime rate when compared to smaller cities in the region.

“I’m also proud about how we compare with the larger citizens around the region,” he said.

And the 2004 year end statistics bear him out. Total Category One crimes – those considered violent – including criminal homicide, rape, robbery, felonious assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, are down from 2003 for the most part.

Criminal homicide is down 3 in 2003 to 1 in 2004; rape also is down from 54 in 2003 to 46 in 2004.

“We’re really proud burglaries are about the second lowest they’ve been in 20 years,” Cotten said. “I attribute that to the nice community we live in, and a lot of alarm systems.”

Category 1 crimes from 20 years ago totaled 3,909, Cotton said. This year, they number only 3,255.

But not all is rosy, Cotton admitted. Lower down the crime statistics list, fatal traffic accidents total 13, resulting in 16 deaths, he said.

“The city’s Action Center and the city council get more requests for extra traffic patrol in neighborhoods than any thing else, he said.

“People think we write a lot of tickets but it’s been shown that more enforcement gives you fewer collisions,” Cotton said.