2017 police data shows trends
The Bella Vista Police Department has compiled and released data regarding the department’s work in 2017.
According to the documentation, Bella Vista saw an increase in the number of sex offenses, assaults and juvenile complaints, with juvenile complaints seeing a particularly significant increase, from 98 in 2015 to 153 in 2016 to 252 in 2017.
By contrast, burglaries, thefts and domestic disturbances all saw a decrease. Burglaries dropped from a relatively high 40 reports in 2016 to 24 in 2017, the lowest burglary count of any year from 2012 to 2017. Thefts sat at 164 for 2017, the second lowest number for the 2012 to 2017 window, trailing behind 2013, which saw 155 reported thefts.
Bella Vista police Capt. Tim Cook said that call volume generally fluctuates significantly over the years, and in some cases a dramatic spike may indicate a small number of particularly productive criminals, or single incidents with a series of crimes related to it.
The numbers on the rise can most likely be traced back to Bella Vista’s rapid growth over the past few years, he said. More families moving in, he said, mean more people in the city, which means more opportunities for something to go wrong.
But a decrease in thefts and burglaries, he explained, may be attributed at least somewhat to police work. Officers can identify areas where crimes are occurring, he said, and put extra patrols in those areas. An increased police presence, he said, may deter would-be thieves and increases the chance that, should someone engage in illicit activity, officers will see and arrest them, which prevents further activity from that individual.
But while the department tries to be proactive, he said, it isn’t an option for everything.
“When it comes to assaults and sex crimes, that’s generally something that happens inside the home… we can’t go and control someone’s home,” he said.
If assaults and sex crimes continue to increase and it starts to
look like a trend, he explained, the department may need to focus on education regarding these crimes.
It’s also worth noting, he said, that sex crime includes a wide array of crimes, including rape, sexual assault, voyeurism and child pornography. While 2017 saw more crimes than 2016, it also had fewer victims. This, he said, could be because of single incidents with multiple crimes against a single victim, or because of crimes like child pornography, which do not have a victim in the Bella Vista Police Department’s jurisdiction.
The examined statistics also include traffic accidents, broken down by location. While the 555 accidents in 2017 was an essentially unchanged number compared to 554 total in 2016, with a single fatality for each year, both years were substantially higher than previous years — though they had fewer fatalities. The 2011 to 2017 window saw an average of 413.7 reported accidents and 2.1 fatalities per year.
Additionally, there was a very significant change in where accidents occur. The department tracks accidents occurring at U.S. Highway 71’s intersection with Benton County 40, Mercy Way, Oldham Road, Riordan Road, Kingsland Road, Trafalgar Road, Pinon Drive, Arkansas Highway 340, Wellington Road, Hampstead Road and the state line. The department also tracks accidents on major roads, including the rest of U.S. Highway 71, Arkansas Highway 340 and Arkansas Highway 279.
The total accidents on major roads and intersections came in at 219 in 2017 compared to 293 in 2016, meaning the proportion of accidents occurring elsewhere in 2017 was substantially higher.
Cook said that, while compiling this data, he looked at each wreck individually and found more accidents were occurring off the major roads.
“We’re having a lot more accidents on our side streets,” he said.
This, he said, can be attributed to the growing population putting more cars on the road, but also to the police department being short-handed for some of last year. Without as many officers available, he said, traffic enforcement fell behind. It’s worth noting, he said, that officers aren’t out to write tickets so much as they are to change behavior.
Speed is a major contributor to many accidents, he said.
Distracted driving, he said, may also be a culprit, though data regarding how many wrecks are caused by it is currently too thin to make a definitive statement.
But on the whole, Cook said he’s proud of the work his department has done. The city is a safe place to live, he said.
“That is not all a credit to the police department,” Cook said. “That’s a credit to our community as a whole.”