Police year-end report hits highs, lows

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories on the 2021 Bella Vista Police Department’s yearend report.

The recently released 2021 year-end report from the Bella Vista Police Department details a challenging year for communications and patrol divisions and a busy time for criminal investigations. It also highlights several areas of community involvement for the department.

In the report, a letter dated Feb. 28, 2022, from Chief James Graves to Mayor Peter Christie notes that in 2021 the department was coming out of the covid pandemic and returning to normal operations. Graves said a tight job market negatively impacted the department’s police force recruitment and retention, and he said the department would make that a priority during 2022.

He also noted several community activities the department is active in, including National Night Out, Coffee With a Cop and Citizens Police Academy, all of which were well-attended during 2021, he said. He also said the department looks forward to the completion of the new public safety complex at the end of 2022.

The administrative division reported it is preparing to move to the new public safety complex, noting that a new phone and radio recording system will be purchased and that the transition will be a major project. The communications division is part of the administrative division.

The communications division reported a challenging year in 2021, noting members are excited about a larger space at the public safety complex and new dispatch consoles and a new, more user-friendly radio console. The department also reported it was fortunate to only lose one employee due to the competitive job market in northwest Arkansas. Being short one dispatcher creates difficulties every shift, the division reported, and interviews were in progress at the time of the report.

The patrol division reported a difficult year, due to staffing levels being at an all-time low due to covid and also losing Officer Christopher Cummins to covid.

“Even though 2021 left us shorthanded, the patrol division did an exceptional job protecting the community and providing service,” the report said.

Patrol division also reported troubles with officers leaving the department last year for jobs in the private sector, for more money or for less stress. However, the report said the division found new ways to recruit officers.

The patrol division’s report also highlighted community outreach, training, the SWAT team, street crime interdiction, the motorcycle unit, the K9 unit, the bike patrol, animal control and honor guard.

The criminal investigations division reported an extremely busy year with a large workload of cases.

According to the report, the division had 451 cases assigned, 513 cases closed, 127 arrest warrants issued, 59 search warrants executed, 50 calls received from the Child Abuse Hotline, 53 interviews conducted at the Child Advocacy Center, more than 1,071 other interviews conducted (suspects, victims, witnesses, other), 39 arrests made, 314 other agency assists conducted, 59 consents to search executed and about 100 electronic devices seized and searched.

The division reported completing more than 500 hours of training.