Reported incidents of crime rose 28% in 2020 — from 190 to 244 incidents — in Rahway, one of six towns in Union County to see an increase last year.

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It’s the first increase in reported crime since 2015. Data come from the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), compiled by New Jersey State Police and FBI.

The crime rate for Rahway works out to 810 per 100,000 residents (or 8.1 per 1,000, which the UCR used to use), which puts it 10th among 21 Union County towns, behind Scotch Plains (692) and ahead of Roselle Park (840); last year, Rahway ranked 7th. Conversely, Rahway would rank 12th in highest crime rate.

Reported crime in Rahway remains historically low, particularly after what appears to be a record low report in 2019.

Countywide, reported incidents of crime declined by 16.3% to 1,648 per 100,000, with 14 of Union County's towns reporting a decrease in 2020.

Outside of Union County, Rahway's nearby neighbors reported lower year-over-year changes from 2019 to 2020 but continued to show substantially higher rates per 100,000 residents than Rahway's 810 per 100,000:

• Carteret, +1.68% / 1,262 per 100k
• Edison, -14.98% / 1,221 per 100k
• Metuchen, +18.75% / 1,465 per 100k
• Woodbridge, -10.63% / 1,350 per 100k

Taking a three-year average spanning 2018-2020, Rahway would rank 11th in Union County at 789 per 100,000, behind Summit (746) and ahead of Springfield (841).

Looking at that same three-year window, 15 Union County towns reported decreases in crime; only five reported increases (Linden remained the same in 2018 and 2020, with a spike in 2019). Summit had the median three-year average at 746 per 100,000. Rahway (12.5%) was among 13 towns that reported at least a 10% decrease compared to three years ago, with the biggest decreases in Garwood (-48.5%) and Berkeley Heights (-47%). Countywide, crime was down 16.5% between 2018 and 2020.]

There's lots of data in the annual UCR, so I taking a closer look in upcoming posts, breaking down some more  numbers  and categories within the report, and maybe over a number of years.

For those interested, I've been compiling the UCR data annually for Rahway going back to 1999. Patrons of RahwayRising have exclusive access to that data over on the Patreon page - check it out here.

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