Three South Jersey counties saw good results in the state police’s 2015 Unified Crime Report, the latest available.
Overall crime dropped in Burlington County by 7 percent, the most in the region.
Throughout New Jersey, overall crime dropped 5 percent and violent crime declined by one percent. But murders were on the rise. The report showed serious crimes remain concentrated in New Jersey’s major cities. They account for just under 20 percent of the state’s population, but a third of its major crimes.
Here are the details for the counties in South Jersey closest to Philadelphia:
Burlington County had an overall crime rate of 15.6 offenses per 1,000 residents and a violent crime rate of 1.5 per 1,000. The county saw six murders in 2015. Crime is down seven percent and there were 7,044 offenses.
Camden County had an overall crime rate of 30.1 offenses per 1,000 residents and a violent crime rate of 4.7 per 1,000. The county saw 38 murders in 2015. The county had 15,361 offenses and crime was down just one percent.
Gloucester County had an overall crime rate of 21.7 offenses per 1,000 residents and a violent crime rate of 1.1 per 1,000. The county saw two murders in 2015. The crime rate dropped five percent and there were 6,316 offenses.
In all of South Jersey, Cumberland County saw the greatest spike in crime, up 6 percent in 2015.