Savannah Property Crimes Spike

Police officials in Savannah today took responsibility for a sharp rise in property crime. Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Chief Michael Berkow released preliminary crime numbers for 2008. And they show that while the economy tanked, thieves and burglars had a good year

Property crimes in Savannah jumped an eye-popping 14% last year. Chief Berkow went before microphones and senior staff and didn't even try to downplay the numbers in year-end crime statistics.

"I can't and I won't sugar-coat the property crimes," he says. "We got our butt kicked this year."

Car thefts, purse snatchings and that bicycle that someone took from your yard in broad daylight -- they're all up. Even while violent crimes decreased about 3%, Chatham County residents lost all types of things to criminals who refuse to get their own. Michael Shortt's laptop and camera were stolen from a locked car in two-separate burglaries.

"It's the same problem that Savannah's always had," Shortt says. "It's property crimes."

Shortt is an anti-crime activist who hosts a local television show on legal issues. He admits, he virtually invited the thief to take his stuff by leaving it in plain sight, a common complaint by police.

"By the same token, you can't help but feel violated," he says. "I mean, your car's parked in your neighborhood and you went to the trouble to lock your car and you can't leave the tiniest thing in there."

Other crimes showed better numbers. Homicides remained relatively steady at 26, rapes decreased by more than half to 37 and a five-year trend showed all violent crimes going down, even while population increased. Rolfe Glover is a money manager who leads a city crime task force. He credits Chief Berkow for improving police operations since he came to office about two-years-ago, but says he's withholding judgement on the property crime numbers.

"What we have seen recently of this police force is that it seems to be organized in a way that can react and be responsive to crime trends," Glover says. "And it'll be a test for this new organization to see if they can react quickly and deal with this issue."

For his part, Chief Berkow is both stopping and passing the buck.

"We accept responsibility for that. We're addressing that. We're attacking it," he says. "But, we're part of the criminal justice system. And we are dramatically impacted by the reality that over 40% of the individuals we've arrested for burglary are still out on the street.

Berkow blames increased property crimes on the down economy and budget cut backs in state crime labs, parole offices, federal grants and the corrections department. He says, the real eye-popping figure is the number of repeat offenders being let loose.