By Courtney Krisak
Commerce – The Commerce Police Department has released it's crime statistics for the 2008 calendar year.
Crime in the City of Commerce was down in 2008 with 616 Part one offenses reported compared to 669 in 2007. Part one offenses include homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, and auto theft.
Just under 50% of crimes in 2008 were cleared by officers.
No homicides were reported last year, which has been the case since 2005. Forcible rape declined 80% with only 2 reports versus 10 in 2007.
Robbery, larceny, and burglary were also down. Of the $284,955 in property stolen throughout the calendar year, $102,568 was recovered.
The only offense that showed no decrease was assault. 238 offenses were reported, which was the same in 2007.