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Aggravated Assault Spike Highlights 2015 Lafayette Crime Increase

Lafayette Police Thursday confirmed violent crime did, in fact, increase in the city in 2015.

“Where we saw probably our biggest jump in 2015 was in aggravated assaults," says Police Chief Pat Flannelly. "In 2015, we had 323, as compared to 219 in 2014.”

Flannelly notes the aggravated assaults, or attacks involving a weapon, account for most of a 115-incident, year-over-year increase in violent crime.

Police will attempt to combat the rise in crime by more than doubling, from 18 to 42, the number of take-home vehicles officers may keep at their residences, to show a greater police presence in some neighborhoods.

Some trouble spots will see other intervention measures, too.

Mayor Tony Roswarski says the Claystone at The Crossing apartment complex on the city’s southwest side has been purchased by a Washington company that plans to clean it up.

“We all know that that has been a significant problem area for our community for many, many years," Roswarski says. "But we do have a new owner, it’s the Integra Property Group from Seattle. They have a history of going around the country and cleaning up – aggressively -- problem properties.”

Roswarski says he also hopes to decrease crime in the Cambridge Estates and Briarwood Apartments neighborhoods on the city’s southeast side, though those remain under the same management.

The city also saw an increased number of burglaries in 2015, but the number of car break-ins went down.