(Editor's note: The Fairlawn Heights Crime Trends Report is part of the Akronist's new Digital Block Watch program, a free resource for residents to schedule meetings and discuss community safety. To enroll your neighborhood in the program, contact Diane Evans at .)
Is crime getting worse in the Fairlawn Heights area? Because anecdotal reports suggest an increased problem, the Akronist set out to see if police reports bear out that suspicion.
The short answer: yes. Because several police jurisdictions cover the area, getting complete numbers can be challenging. For this story, we’re focusing on Akron police reports in the category of “burglary/breaking & entering.”
In that category, we examined Akron police reports in the Fairlawn Heights area in two six-month periods: January-June 2010 and January-June 2011.
In the first half of 2010, we found three reports of note:
• A break-in of a home on South Miller Road toward West Market Street.
• Two incidents involving nearby businesses: one in the commercial strip on West Market Street between Sand Run and Overwood roads; the other on Sand Run Road, just off West Market.
By contrast, the first half of 2011 included five burglary reports within Fairlawn Heights, and five additional reports on the fringes. The records noted burglary/break-in reports of homes on the following streets:
• Two on Inverness Road
• One on South Meadowcroft Drive
• One on Ridgewood Road (a short distance east of the Circle K at Miller)
• One on West Market
In addition, the Akronist found:
• Two burglary/break-in reports of properties near the Frank Boulevard overpass: one on Frank and the other on Audubon Road.
• Two reports on homes near West Market Street -- one on Thompson Drive and the other on Frank Boulevard.
• One incident involving a business on Sand Run in the block just off West Market.
In the maps below, you can view monthly reports on where crimes are taking place in the Akron police zone that includes Fairlawn Heights and several other neighborhoods As you’ll see, incidents in Fairlawn Heights remain relatively low.
Beginning soon, the Akronist will work on a similar three-month analysis for July through September.
Keep in mind, there are thousands of police reports on file in various categories, such as domestic violence, petty theft and juvenile delinquency. We can take up other categories later, and we’d love to hear the topics you’d like us to cover as well. For the next installment, we’ll discuss with Akron police officials the status of unsolved burglaries and their comments on why the increase in break-ins this year.
Meanwhile, here are the crime maps referenced above:
http://publicsafety.ci.akron.oh.us/police/pdf/Zone%204/Zone_4_2011.pdf
http://publicsafety.ci.akron.oh.us/police/pdf/Zone%204/Zone_4_Feb_2011.pdf
http://publicsafety.ci.akron.oh.us/police/pdf/Zone%204/Zone_4_mar_2011.pdf
http://publicsafety.ci.akron.oh.us/police/pdf/Zone%204/Zone_4_april_2011.pdf
http://publicsafety.ci.akron.oh.us/police/pdf/Zone%204/Zone%204%20May%202011.pdf
http://publicsafety.ci.akron.oh.us/police/pdf/Zone%204/Zone_4_Map_June11.pdf
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