Police receive more calls for service in 2019

The Madison Township Police Department received more overall calls for service in 2019, but this additional activity didn’t result in officers making more arrests or issuing a greater number of citations.

That’s one of the findings contained in the department’s 2019 annual report, which Police Chief Matthew Byers recently presented to township trustees.

Last year, the department received 13,044 calls for services, which led to 1,653 incident reports being filed. That compared with 11,909 calls for service in 2018, which provided the basis for 1,876 incident reports.

Three other major report categories stacked up this way for 2019 versus the previous year:

• Vehicle crashes — 235 in 2019; 284 in 2018

• Citations issued — 351 in 2019; 391 in 2018

• Arrests made — 544 in 2019; 626 in 2018

“It appears that there were just a lot more service-oriented calls in 2019 than in prior years,” Byers told trustees at a meeting last month.

“But actual crime, arrests and incidents are down a little bit.”

Examples of serviceoriented calls are vehicle lockouts, checking on a person’s welfare or animal complaints, the chief explained.

Although Byers hasn’t conducted any formal studies, he offered one other possible reason for the drop in arrests and citations.

He noted that with the department’s manpower staying the same, and more time being devoted to answering service-oriented calls, officers could have less time for “self-initiated activity” while they’re out on patrol and able to personally observe violations of the law or other signs of potential crimes.

Some of the reported crimes that decreased in the township were assaults (42 last year versus 61 in 2018); theft/fraud (309 in 2019 compared with 327 in 2018); burglaries (18 last year, dropping from 20 in 2018); and criminal trespassing (32 in 2019, 48 in 2018.)

Examples of crimes that increased last year were harassment (18 in 2019 versus 10 the previous year); criminal damaging (52 last year; 41 in 2018); and domestic violence (93 in 2019; up from 79 in the previous year).

Meanwhile, crimes that were reported just once in Madison Township in 2019 included arson and kidnapping.