Watch | Connecticut crime continues to drop in 2022: report (NBC CT)
October 19, 2023A new report from the state shows an overall drop in crime by 4% here in Connecticut.
The governor and Democratic lawmakers are happy to see a decrease in crime.
“This report demonstrates that Connecticut continues to be one of the safest states in the country, with violent and property crimes down from the previous year and below or trending toward pre-pandemic levels,” Gov. Ned Lamont said.
Besides the overall 4% drop from 2021 to 2022, the report reveals a decrease in violent crime by 13%. That includes a 13% decrease in homicides statewide and an 18% decrease in robberies. There was also a 3% decrease in property crime.
“For many years I talked about how Connecticut was the fourth safest state in the nation so now CT is the third safest state,” said state Senator Bob Duff of Norwalk.
He credits work being done at the statehouse for the decrease. Policies like stricter gun laws or incentivizing opportunities to curb re-offending.
“We are seeing crime continue to drop here in Connecticut through the policies and the work we have done here in the past,” Duff said.
But his statehouse colleagues on the other side of the aisle, though encouraged to see Connecticut’s crime rate going in the right direction, aren’t ready to consider it a victory.
“Every day we are not hearing something positive about a reduction in crime, or something positive, we are seeing in fact the opposite and it’s happening everywhere in the state of Connecticut,” said state Senator Paul Cicarella, of North Haven.
Cicarella believes there is still a long way to go in preventing car thefts or shootings Connecticut residents are experiencing. Specifically, disincentivizing all crime.
“I’m hearing that we need to have consequences for actions. I am all for a second chance, but when there is a third, fourth and fifth, and the public is the one that is bearing the risk of being in danger like we see every day on the news here in my district and I’m sure all across the state, we need to take action,” Cicarella said.
