The number of serious crimes in East Lansing last year was the lowest in the past decade, but the number of other offenses, such as disorderly conduct and speeding, have increased, according to East Lansing crime statistics released Monday.
The decrease in serious crimes follows a national trend. The number of violent crimes in 2004 was less than half the number reported in 1995, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Officers noticed more people drinking in East Lansing, which could be a cause for the increase in citations for minor in possession, open alcohol and disorderly conduct, East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said.
"Last fall (officers) said … there's more beer and partying going on in East Lansing than they can remember ever in recent years, and I guess these statistics confirm it," Wibert said. "We're just coming across more alcohol."
There were 1,141 citations for underage possession of alcohol in 2005, up from the 744 citations in 2004. Open-alcohol citations were at a 10-year high, from 440 in 2004 to 605 in 2005.
The increase could be attributed to more people drinking and partying in the city rather than tailgating on campus during the football season, Wibert said. Tailgating decreased on campus last season after MSU officials implemented stricter policies, such as banning drinking games in late 2004.
Disorderly conduct citations increased to a 10-year high, with a total of 927 in 2005.
Most of the people arrested in the April 2-3 disturbances were arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct. Forty-three people were arrested April 2-3, when thousands of people took to the streets after MSU lost to the University of North Carolina in the Final Four of the men's basketball NCAA Tournament.
Police weren't completely sure as to why the number of aggravated assaults went down from 157 in 2004 to 34 in 2005, but East Lansing police Lt. Kim Johnson said an increased police presence could have helped.
Most aggravated assaults in East Lansing involve serious fights, so police make sure to patrol areas where there have been problems in the past, Johnson said.
There hasn't been any specific emphasis among police on increasing arrests for underage drinking, Johnson said.
"There's not necessarily any big crackdown," he said. "We're just out there working like we always have been."
But when Wibert became police chief in May, he put a special priority on drunken driving arrests. In 2005, there were 419 violations — 62 more arrests than in 2004.
This increase is unique to statewide rates, which have stayed fairly flat in the past few years, said Homer Smith, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD Michigan.
"I'm really pleased with what Chief Wibert and the East Lansing Police Department are doing in making impaired driving enforcement a priority," Smith said. "It makes everyone safer when that's taking place."
Wibert has also stressed increasing safety by sending police to accident-prone intersections to catch speeders.
Police wrote about 1,550 more speeding citations than they did in 2004. Traffic accidents decreased, which Johnson and Wibert attribute to the increased police presence at dangerous intersections.
"It's about safety. It's not so much speeding and traffic citations; it's about accident prevention," Wibert said. "We want to get people to slow down to prevent accidents."
There were 39 robberies reported in 2005 — only seven more than 2004, but about a dozen more than the 10-year average.
"That's a big concern for us, and so that one has our eye more than anything," Wibert said.
Melissa Domsic can be reached at domsicme@msu.edu.
