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Drug abusers dying from heroin overdoses jumped 81 percent in Madison through October, compared to the first 10 months of 2017, according to statistics released Friday by Police Chief Mike Koval.

Koval said in his daily blog that four people died of heroin overdoses in October, bringing the yearly total to 38. That’s 81 percent more than the 21 heroin overdose deaths through October 2017.

“Through the end of October, our department has been aware of 251 overdoses since the beginning of the year,” Koval said. “This is a 26 percent increase year-to-date from 2017, when we were aware of 199 overdoses.”

Heroin overdoses dropped by 31 percent in Madison in October compared to the same month last year, with 25 known overdoses compared to 36 in October 2017.

Koval also said in his blog this week that robberies were about the same in October 2018 as October 2017, while burglaries were up 30 percent in the month-to-month comparison.

Twenty-three robberies were reported in the city in October compared to 22 in October of 2017.

The North District had six robberies reported, while the East District had five, the Midtown and Central districts had four each and the West and South districts had two each.