A year of police statistics

In 2017, Jasper officers responded to 115 different types of calls for service and made 446 arrests.

Annually, these numbers are broken down into a report provided to the board of public works and safety. That report is available below.

Police department statistics are important for planning proactive methods to keep citizens safe and property secure. With a 45 percent increase in collected evidence and seized drugs over the past four years as well as the burgeoning number of drug-related crimes, the need to fund new officer positions to help assuage that growth and work with a growing community is apparent to officials.

The department recently swore in three new officers—two for newly funded positions and one to replace a vacancy. With the additional officers, the department plans on creating a narcotics detective position to split those investigations off from the current detective’s workload.

Chief Nathan Schmitt views the addition as a way to not only slow the spread of drug crimes but also property crimes that rise with those drug problems. The additional positions also put more officers on the road as the two detectives take over more of those investigations.

The relief for these road officers is important since they handle a lot of different scenarios on a daily basis. And on an increasingly frequent basis.

Overall, the Jasper department had 13,127 service calls in 2017 compared to 9,397 in 2016. That’s a large increase in police activity for that list of about 115 types of incidents.

“A lot of things have gone up,” Chief Schmitt said. “Civil complaints, which include everything from property line disputes to bad purchases made over one of the barter pages, went from 76 last year to 200 this year.”

These calls include what you would expect; drugs, traffic tickets, accidents, domestic disputes and thefts. But it also includes things you might not know the officers handle.

For example:

They recovered 11 bicycles. These are found abandoned around the city or called in by citizens.

Removed debris from roadways 117 times.

Responded to 237 calls for disabled vehicles.

Checked on 30 open doors or garages at area homes.

Helped assist families with caring for sick loved ones 619 times. Schmitt explained these calls usually involved an officer stopping by someone’s house to help in moving a family member who is unable to do so on their own. He said sometimes it is easier to have an officer stop by and help rather than dispatching an ambulance to the home.

Completed 321 welfare checks for worried family members and friends.

Helped with nine children locked in vehicles.

Responded to 52 structure fires with the Jasper Volunteer Fire Department.

Helped provide information or answer questions for citizens 162 times.

Took 262 animal complaints and responded to 15 animal bites.

Here are some stats regarding the activities the police are more commonly known for.

Handled 742 property damage (traffic) accidents.

Responded to 289 business or bank alarms.

Were called to 216 domestic disputes and 24 involving domestic battery.

Investigated 20 calls for child abuse and five calls for child molestation.

Checked on 244 possibly intoxicated drivers; arrested 10 for drunk driving.

Took 212 calls for reckless drivers.

Performed 408 extra patrols; up from 205 in 2016. “These come from people concerned about their homes or businesses,” Schmitt explained.

Responded to eight calls for overdoses. Jasper police officers don’t carry Narcan—a quick-acting drug used to block the effects of opioids. They rely on the quick response from local emergency medical services to provide that type of intervention. “For an officer to make a diagnosis and administer Narcan prior to EMS responding would be a scenario in which the person has a needle hanging from their arm when the officer arrives,” Schmitt said. “Fortunately, with them (hospital EMS services) being right here in the city limits, they can respond very quickly.”

He added that with the increased use of fentanyl-an opioid that can be absorbed through the skin and is much stronger than heroin, the department is discussing the need to provide Narcan for officers that could be exposed to it.

They conducted 786 building checks in 2017 compared to 22 in 2016. These usually occur overnight when officers park their car and walk a block of the city rattling doorknobs of closed businesses to ensure they are secure. “They’ll leave a post it note saying they checked the door,” Schmitt said explaining the officers are being more proactive in this area. “Those seem to be pretty popular.”

They conducted 3024 traffic stops. In regards to tickets, which don’t all come from traffic stops, the department issued 3,594 warnings and only 845 tickets. “We understand people make mistakes,” Schmitt said. “It is a lot of money to get a traffic ticket and if we can change their behavior without financially burdening them, we will do it.”

On a less expensive note, the department issued more than a 1,000 parking tickets around the downtown area in 2017. If you play the car shuffle game remember, you have to move it away from the quadrant in which it was parked or you can still get a ticket for being there for more than two hours.

With 115 different call types listed in 2017, the statistics show that an officer’s daily duty can’t be classified as routine.

“You know, we almost can’t be called police officers anymore. We need to be called public safety professionals because our officers have to be EMS trained, we are lawyers called upon to give civil advice, stuff not even involving law enforcement. We do everything,” Schmitt said. “There is a lot of stuff being put on officers now and that is why it is so important we get good qualified officers who are well-trained.”