Police answering more phone calls than in past
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‘The number of calls have been rising consistently for years, much of it for police services rather than just calls about criminal acts,’ said McMinnville Police Major Bryan Denton of the record number of calls for a single quarter recorded this past January through March. ‘We have also changed the way records of calls are kept so they may also contribute to the rise.’
The 4,801 calls for service for police within the McMinnville city limits from January to March was part of a continuing cycle of increases for calls in the first quarters of past years, with police pointing out the first quarters of most years are normally the quietest when it comes to crime. In 2006, there were 3,764 calls, up from 2005 when there were 3,275 calls which was up from 2004 when there were 2,702 calls for service. There were 4,603 calls for service in the year 1983, less than was amassed during the first single quarter of this year in the city.
The rising number of calls and the relatively small increase in manpower within the department has prompted a call for a bigger police budget to keep pace with the surging demand.
While calls were up in McMinnville, crime itself was at a three-year low with 351 offenses reported in McMinnville compared to 371 last year and 358 in 2005.
The biggest single property crime, theft, was at a four-year low with 82 reported as opposed to 121 the first quarter of 2006, 106 in 2005 and 87 in 2004. Burglaries were down from the year before with 33 this past quarter as opposed to 48 the year before.
Despite the lower crime rate, arrests were up to a three-year high with 302 made the first quarter of this year compared to 270 in 2006 and 240 in 2005. Along racial lines, police reported 72 percent of adults arrested were white, six percent black and 22 percent Hispanic.
Meanwhile juvenile arrests held steady with 28, a number dramatically down from the 71 juvenile arrests made in 2004.
In the area of violent crime, assaults led the way as usual, reaching a three-year high with 68 reported compared with 45 last year and 56 during 2005. In other areas of violent crime, aggravated assaults were up two to eight, child abuse cases increase by three to a total of eight, there were seven sex cases and two cases of armed robbery.
Pacing the other increases, police again set a quarterly record for citations issued, issuing 1,718 tickets compared to 1,609 last year and 1,459 in the first quarter of 2005. Speeding tickets accounted for the lion’s share of citations with 619 motorists cited for exceeding the speed limit. Another 335 were ticketed for no proof of insurance while 77 were cited for not wearing a seatbelt. Eight citations were given for violating the noise ordinance. There were 141 persons cited or arrested for not having a driver’s license, 32 arrest for drunk driving and 19 arrested for public intoxication. There were 39 people arrested for drugs during the first quarter of 2007.