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Rock Island crime at lowest levels in 10 years

Crime has fallen to its lowest level in Rock Island in the past ten years. Rock Island police chief Jeff VenHuizen says back when he joined the force in 1993, p...

Crime has fallen to its lowest level in Rock Island in the past ten years.

Rock Island police chief Jeff VenHuizen says back when he joined the force in 1993, police and the community dealt with a lot more violent crime.

" I had my eyes open when I came to Rock Island to say the least, you know a kid coming from a small farm community I was like what did I get into," said chief VenHuizen.

Fast forward to today and some would say it's a completely different city. A report presented Monday to city council shows that crime is down in Rock Island, to the lowest level in a decade.

"There's 1,800 to 1,900 less incidents a year in that period of time so that's fantastic," said Mayor, Dennis Pauley.

City leaders credited police with the improvements on several fronts, from the efforts of officers themselves to the growth of police partnerships with the community.

"Everyone wants to see things get better and it's getting better every year and that's really good for everyone in the community," said Mayor Pauley.

Rock Island police have also implemented two new teams, a crime suppression one and the downtown police unit.

"We've made some changes in the District and we went through a whole year without one incident," said Mayor Pauley.

They're not stopping there, "I don't think we can sit back and say this is working. I think we have to continually look at what we're doing and analyze it and make sure that it's the best use of our resources," said chief VenHuizen.

Rock Island did see an increase in sexual assaults and vehicle thefts.

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