Larcenies, criminal mischief, burglaries and driving under the influence offenses were the most reported offenses by Riverhead Town Police again in 2013, according to data released this month by Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller.
The total number of reported criminal incidents in Riverhead last year — 3,772 — was 3 percent lower than the average number reported in Riverhead over the past seven years. (See table below.)
In addition to criminal incidents, Riverhead Police reported 20,867 non-criminal incidents in 2013, up slightly from the average of 20,673 non-criminal incidents reported over the past seven years. Non-criminal incidents include: responding to automatic alarms (3,934), “aided” cases, such as ambulance calls (2,900), motor vehicle accidents (2,228), disputes (870), disturbances (1,506), and reports of a suspicious person (755) or a suspicious vehicle (484).
| Offense | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Murder | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0* | 0 |
| Rape | 5 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Rape Investigation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Robbery | 31 | 37 | 43 | 33 | 17 | 29 | 33 |
| Attempted Robbery | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Burglary | 164 | 192 | 165 | 171 | 173 | 168 | 171 |
| Larceny | 831 | 995 | 979 | 1034 | 1030 | 1125 | 1034 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 51 | 54 | 65 | 44 | 42 | 39 | 44 |
| Arson, Attempted | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Controlled Substance | 133 | 74 | 78 | 50 | 62 | 60 | 50 |
| Dangerous Weapons | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sex Offenses | 17 | 12 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 7 |
| Extortion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Forgery & Counterfeiting | 13 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 |
| Prostitution | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Patronizing Prostitution | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Promoting Prostitution | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Liquor Authority Check | 1 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 6 | 35 | 37 |
| Criminal Mischief | 409 | 465 | 303 | 365 | 318 | 354 | 365 |
| Fraud | 3 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 7 | 19 |
| Assault | 57 | 72 | 49 | 49 | 58 | 40 | 49 |
| DUI | 177 | 197 | 191 | 151 | 156 | 195 | 151 |
| Unauthorized Use of Vehicle | 15 | 19 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 14 |
| Disorderly Conduct | 23 | 35 | 28 | 20 | 20 | 11 | 20 |
| Loitering | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| All Other Offenses | 2190 | 2110 | 1885 | 1760 | 1748 | 1681 | 1760 |
| Total | 4150 | 4292 | 3830 | 3772 | 3685 | 3791 | 3772 |
* There was one murder in Riverhead in 2012. It was reported by Suffolk Police, not the town police department and is not included in the Riverhead Police Department’s statistics.
How do the East End towns compare on crime?
The N.Y. State Division of Criminal Justice Services maintains statistics reported by police agencies throughout the state. It reports on so-called “index” crimes — murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. Index crimes are classified as either “violent” crimes or “property” property crimes.
Crime rates are determined by dividing the number of a type of crime reported by the population of a municipality.
Riverhead’s overall crime rate was 3.2 percent in 2012, the highest among the five East End towns. Second was East Hampton, with an overall crime rate of 2.6 percent. The overall crime rate in Southampton, Southold and Shelter Island was 2.2 percent in each town. Suffolk County’s overall crime rate was 1.9 percent in 2012.
The rate of violent crime in Riverhead was one-tenth of one percent higher than the county’s violent crime rate, according to the state statistics.
The crime statistics for each town, reported below, do not include crimes in each town that may have been reported by the county sheriff, county police, park police or state police. The state report does not break down data reported by those agencies according to municipality (or precinct.)
| Town1 | Index Total |
Rate |
Violent Total |
Rate |
Property Total |
Rate |
| Riverhead | 1,056 | 3.2% | 76 | .2% | 980 | 3% |
| Southold | 475 | 2.2% | 21 | .1% | 454 | 2% |
| Southampton2 | 1274 | 2.2% | 67 | .09% | 1207 | 2% |
| East Hampton3 | 565 | 2.6% | 15 | .07% | 550 | 3% |
| Shelter Island | 53 | 2.2% | 0 | — | 53 | 2% |
| County Total1 | 28,851 | 1.9% | 2,131 | .1% | 26,720 | 2% |
Notes: The 2012 data are the most recent data currently available on the NYSDCJS website.
1. Town numbers do not include crimes reported to NYSDCJS by Suffolk County Sheriff and NYS Police occurring within the individual municipalities — these are not broken out in the NYSDCJS reports— but the sheriff’s and state police numbers are included in the county total.
2. Southampton includes data reported by Southampton Town Police and all village police departments within the township.
3. East Hampton includes data reported by East Hampton Town Police and all village police departments within the township.
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