Posted: 6:00 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, 2014

Aggravated assaults, burglaries and robberies were down last year in Middletown compared to 2012, but drug activity is on the upswing, a Journal-News analysis of the city’s 2013 crime data revealed.

“Heroin really hit us hard last year as it did the nation, and the areas surrounding us also noticed that,” said Middletown police Lt. Scott Reeve.

Middletown police responded to 614 drug-related incidents last year compared to 569 in 2012, data shows. Drug activity has risen each of the past four years and has increased by 30 percent since 2010, according to the data.

A map of the city on the wall of Reeve’s office is dotted with colored push pins signifying the location of where each crime occurred. The most criminal activity took place in the northwest portion of the city. Flemming Road near Central Avenue ranked No. 1 followed by University Boulevard and South Sutphin Street, according to police.

But those statistics don’t necessarily translate into northwest Middletown being the most dangerous part of the city, Reeve said. If you’re walking down Flemming Road, you are not at any greater risk for being a victim of crime, he said.

“I think Middletown is a pretty safe community,” Reeve said. “Generally, when someone’s involved in a crime, unfortunately, there’s usually drugs involved. We’ve had a few robberies reported, one by a young lady we have good reason to believe she was in the middle of a drug deal when she was robbed.”

Statistics show 972 burglaries were reported last year, and police said many of them were connected to drugs.

“If you have a family member addicted to heroin, and they know you’re going to be gone at a certain time, they feel more comfortable breaking into that house because they know the person’s gone and they can get away with it,” Reeve said.

Crime prevalent around subsidized housing

Reeve’s office also had a second map hanging on the wall showing all the Section 8, or subsidized housing, in the city and crimes that happen in and around those neighborhoods. A lot of low-income residents are victims of crime, mostly thefts, he said.

“It’s a struggling lifestyle to try to get out of poverty, and it’s a hard cycle to break,” said Reeve.

City officials have been trying to reducing the amount of Section 8 housing in Middletown and have proposed a plan to reduce the number by Housing Choice vouchers by more than 1,000 through attrition over the next five years. The proposed plan has met opposition from local Section 8 landlords and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is currently reviewing the city’s program.

Proponents of subsidized housing support spreading Section 8 throughout the city instead of concentrating it in one area. They want to see Section 8 housing offered in more affluent neighborhoods in hopes of decreasing crime and helping low-income individuals.

But Reeve said statistics don’t support that idea. He said even in nicer neighborhoods Section 8 properties “still have problems with criminal activity.”

A ‘safe community’ with ‘a lot of drug use’

Mike Easterling lives along Flemming Road and has had items stolen from his front porch at least three separate times, including his work clothes in the past year.

“I had a pair of work pants, they were dirty that I had set out on the front porch,” Easterling said. “I don’t know why someone would take a pair of dirty work pants, but they did.”

Easterling told the Journal-News he feels safe walking down Flemming Road even though, according to police, it’s a well-known crime area.

“It’s a safe community, but there’s definitely a lot of drug use,” he said.

Four years ago, Easterling’s world was rocked after James Smith, 30, one of his best friends and a roommate, became addicted to heroin. Smith overdosed on heroin, Easterling said.

“He was a good person, and I saw it progress from pain pills to Vicodin to Percocets to Oxycontin to heroin,” he said, noting his friend’s death was very traumatizing.

Community involvement key in crime fighting

Reeve said police are trying to be more proactive with crime, but the community’s help is essential.

“If you see something suspicious, please call it in,” Reeve said.

He said a couple of years ago, thanks to tips from residents, the police were able to arrest a man for a string of daytime burglaries. Reeve said the guy “was going door-to-door asking for a girl he claimed he met at a bar the previous night.”

Reeve said police are working on some new crime-fighting initiatives this year, but he declined to go into detail

“Might hamper our ability to be successful in the investigation, but do have some plans,” he said.