Crime & Safety

Economy-driven Crime Keeps Police Busy

While crime stats are down or unchanged, local chiefs say resource-strapped departments are busier than ever.

Crime statistics don't tell the whole story of what keeps local police departments busy. 

The FBI's annual Crime in the United States report, released Monday, Sept. 19, showed . But chiefs in the communities said much of their officers' time is spent responding to things that aren't even reportable to the national agency.

"Obviously, from 2009 to 2010 there was a downward trend, but as a department we are much busier," said Chief Tim Zarzecki. 

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In 2010, he said, the department received an average of 110 more calls for service per month than in 2009. Many of those calls, aren't for crimes.

"It's things like the plane crash, traffic accidents, civil troubles at homes and domestic abuse arrests," he said. "And we're on pace to date in 2011 to have higher amounts of calls for service each month again."

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And they're responding to those calls with the same number of officers.

Need up, resources down

While the departments are busier than ever, their staff hasn't increased.

"Our staffing level is decreasing," said Chief Sean Marschke. "We're required to work in furlough days to maintain the budget. It's a tough thing to start new programs when you don't have the resources to do it. We have been concentrating resources on things like the abandoned properties and working for those as much as we can, and calls for service are going through the roof."

Traffic enforcement is problematic in Sturtevant, too. 

"If a resident says there's a lot of speeding cars in a school zone, we try to (give extra attention)," Marschke said. "Sometimes we're taking away from that to handle calls for service. You'll see that throughout the county and state as well. It's hard to start new programs when the money isn't there."

Mount Pleasant recently learned it's getting a little bit of help from the state with one area of concern. 

Five state highways run through the village, and Zarzecki said traffic is always a major concern for police and village residents. The department just received a $65,000 grant from the Bureau of Transportation Safety to target speed, alcohol and seatbelt violations. Those three things, he said, contribute to the number of crashes and to the seriousness of injuries that result from those crashes. 

"It seems to be higher each year," he said. 

Since their staff hasn't increased—department staffing has remained steady at 41 sworn officers—but the number of calls they receive keeps climbing, traffic enforcement often gets squeezed out.

"With the amount of minimum staffing we have on the road and patrol it's difficult to concentrate on traffic because they're handling calls for service," he said. 

This grant will let them set aside dedicated patrols for traffic enforcement, where officers will not be responsible for responding to calls that come in, but will instead be paid overtime to only monitor drivers on the roads. The grant also provides opportunity to purchase equipment like preliminary breath test devices, radar and laser units and video cameras.

Poor economy, changing crime

The economy isn't just squeezing department resources, the chiefs said, it's also changing the types of calls to which officers respond.

Both chiefs said fraud, identity theft and gas drive-offs seem more prevalent than in years past.

"I think the reason is those are all tied to not having enough money, people losing jobs and things," Marschke said. "It's not violent crime, but motor vehicle thefts, people doing more of the petty thefts and gas drive-offs than ever before."

Identity theft and Internet and phone scams are also on the rise, Marschke said. Many of those crimes have local victims, he said, but the perpetrators are out of the area, and sometimes out of the country.  

Foreclosed houses are contributing to problems with public safety, too, Marschke said. 

"There's been an increase in juvenile drinking and things because of foreclosed houses," he said. "They've got a lot of places to party and hang out at, with houses abandoned and such."

Residents also call to complain about properties that aren't kept up, particularly when an out-of-town bank now owns a property. 

"Kids are breaking in, partying and there's no complainant, no victim to report it," he said. "It's just the broken windows theory. The property is looking bad, and property values are down for the houses nearby. It compounds itself."

Zarzecki said they are trying to work with residents to get them more involved with watching for and reporting crime and other activity.

"We need the eyes and ears of the Mount Pleasant citizens to report crime and to report suspicious activity," he said. "Our (community policing) officers are making an attempt to be more involved in the community and neighborhoods to get people to be more observant and give us a call on those (things they see)."


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