Chief Sinclair Making a Difference in Nazareth PD

Below you will find Nazareth crime data between 2000 and 2007. It's a joke. In 2002, Nazareth reported no crime at all. In 2003, it never bothered to forward any data. Clearance rates flutter between 15% and 72%.

Year	Crimes Reported	Crimes Cleared	Clearance Rate
2000	429	64	15%
2001	29	10	34%
2002	0	0	?
2003	no data	no data	no data
2004	51	13	25%
2005	564	167	30%
2006	590	179	30%
2007	430	310	72%

Source: Pennsylvania State Police

Fortunately, the silliness has stopped. Nazareth reached outside for its new police chief, Michael Sinclair, a 29-year veteran from Philly. He wants "accurate statistics" and "good intelligence." In contrast to the previous practice of keeping things hushed up, Sinclair has started "crime bulletins" to alert the community if there is a rash of crime. "When you have 1,000 robberies, it is not 1,000 different people. It's usually the same handful." Sinclair brings much needed professionalism to Nazareth. When you have 1,000 parking tickets, that's usually a small handful of miscreants, too. I know. I'm one of them.