Bloomington Police Department Assistant Chief Kirk Ijams (left) with Chief Brendan Heffner.

According to a recent report put out by the Bloomington Police Department, 2014 saw a 13.3% drop in Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) from 2013.

UCR statistics include Homicide, Forcible Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault/Battery, Burglary, Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft, and Arson.

Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner attributes the drop in crime to a few different sources.

“We had some restructure in our command which enabled some of our managers to be more in touch with personnel,” Heffner said. “There’s good communication up and down the chain of command.”

Keeping police visible in high crime areas has also helped keep crime down.

“We try to have a presence where we can and have police officers out being seen,” Heffner said. “As always we have officers working over in some of our higher crime areas, and we think that has paid some dividends.”

The department has also worked more with the public.

“We’ve tried to engage the public more in non-enforcement type of contact when we can,” Heffner said. “I think it kind of all works together.”

While overall crime in Bloomington saw a decrease, there was a 9% spike in Motor Vehicle Thefts.

“We had an increase in that last year as well and the same factors that contributed to the increase last year were factors this year,” Heffner said.

The department has found that some people are leaving keys inside their vehicles, which is contributing to the increase.

“A high number of these motor vehicle thefts were committed by juveniles, and their intent was not necessarily to steal the vehicle, but to go inside and take possessions,” Chief Heffner said. “But lo and behold once they were inside the vehicle and found car keys they took them.”

Crimes such as these are sometimes preventable by simply making sure that cars are locked.

“We’re trying to emphasize to citizens to lock their cars, take the keys, and also to lock their doors at home,” Heffner said. “We’d like to live in a society where you don’t have to do that, but that’s just not realistic.”

Moving forward in 2015 the department would like to continue to reduce crime as well as tackle other issues.

“We want to address street level violent crimes and illegal gun possession and continue to suppress gang crimes, robberies, narcotics, sex offender violations, and residential burglaries,” Heffner said.

While the hard work of the department and citizens alike are the main factors in the reduction of crime, sometimes luck is also involved.

“It doesn’t matter which police department you’re at, luck always plays a little factor in helping reduce crime,” Heffner said. “We are doing a lot with a little at this time and using our resources to the best of our abilities. We are stretched thin, but we will continue to diligently keep our efforts up in reducing crime.”

One other way that the department has sought to decrease crime is by allowing residents to use the Bloomington Police Department parking lot as a safe meeting spot for buying and selling goods through online marketplaces, like Craigslist.

The Bloomington Police Department, as well as the Illinois State Police Department, McLean County Sheriff’s Department, and Normal Police Department, will be at the McDonald’s on 525 Brock Drive in Bloomington on Friday March 13th from 7 to 10am for Coffee with a Cop. Residents are invited to come ask questions, voice concerns, or just get to know officers and deputies at the event. Free coffee will be provided by McDonald’s.