Pennsylvania State Police: coronavirus results in huge drop in crashes, crime
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The coronavirus pandemic is taking a bite out of crime and traffic crashes throughout the commonwealth, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
Data from state police from before the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in the state early last month was compared to arrest and incident data from last week. The comparison, state police say, shows a dramatic drop in crimes and traffic accidents.
State police looked at incident reports from the week of Feb. 22 to 28 and compared them to data from April 11 to 17.
Statewide, the data shows, total criminal cases investigated by state police dropped 86%. Specific categories showed similar declines:
- Property crimes: down 87%
- Vehicle crashes: down 68%
- Total arrests: down 77%
- DUI arrests: down 69%
During the seven-day period in late February, troopers statewide investigated 2,317 criminal offenses compared to just 316 the most recent week in April.
There were 667 property crimes reported statewide during the seven-day period in February compared to 89 last week and 1,235 crashes were reported during the week in February versus 391 a week ago. Total arrests were 1,286 in February versus 301 last week and DUI arrests were 420 during the February period versus just 129 a week ago.
“The statistics are showing that Pennsylvanians are doing the right thing, staying at home and following Gov. (Tom) Wolf’s stay-at-home order,” said state police spokesman Ryan Tarkowski.
Frazer Township Police Chief Terry Kuhns, whose department’s jurisdiction in Allegheny County includes the Pittsburgh Mills mall and portions of Route 28, said his department’s caseload has dramatically dropped, too.
“With Pittsburgh Mills mall closed, we only have Walmart, Sam’s Club and Lowe’s, who are all doing a booming business, but we’re not getting very many retail thefts as usual with all of the retailers closed,” Kuhns said.
“We also have a portion of Route 28, and we normally have four to five DUI arrests a week, but I’d say we’ve only had just one during the entire time since February,” Kuhns said.
In Westmoreland County, Delmont police Chief T.J. Klobucar said he noticed a dramatic drop in criminal cases almost in mid-March when Wolf ordered non-essential businesses to close.
“For a couple of weeks there, you would hardly see anyone out. There has been a pretty steep drop-off of cases, although I’ve recently seen an increase with domestic-argument related cases,” he said.
Tarkowski declined to say whether he believes an anxious population will start venturing out earlier than Wolf’s scheduled reopening of Pennsylvania, set to begin May 8, or whether that would lead to a return of crime.
“I don’t want to speculate. But, like I said, Pennsylvanians so far have been doing the right thing during this by staying home and I would expect that to continue,” he said.
“After May 8, with traffic increasing, I believe you’ll notice those numbers start to go back up,” Tarkowski said.
Klobucar and Kuhns agreed.
“I know in our area, I don’t expect to see much changing in our rates until Gov. Wolf’s scheduled reopening May 8 and then you’ll notice a change,” Kuhns said.
“I don’t see a sharp increase occurring until after the reopening begins May 8,” Klobucar said.