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By NATHAN MARCHAND
Police Chief Tammy Schaffer’s annual report for the Bluffton Police Department revealed an increase in traffic accidents from the previous year.
“This is the first year out of the last four that we actually had increase in crashes,” Schaffer said in her report to Bluffton City Council.
She was happy to report there were no fatalities for the city of Bluffton in 2007.
There were 70 injuries from 49 separate crashes and over 250 reportable crashes in 2007. “Reportable crashes” are crashes that result in total damage over $1,000 or any personal injuries.
There were approximately 170 vehicle incidents in 2007. “Incidents” are crashes that incur damage less than $1,000.
Schaffer broke these numbers down more as she progressed.
She said 23 crashes happened in private drives, which was half of what it was the year before. 151 crashes happened in private lots, the majority of those being at Wal-Mart.
The most prevalent causes of accidents were failure to yield, unsafe backing, following too close, and driver distraction. Schaffer attributes the last one to increased cell phone usage while driving.
According to Schaffer, Main St. had the most accidents, as usual. The intersection with the most was Main St. and Ind. 124 with 28 crashes. This was followed by Main Street’s intersections with Monroe St. (approximately 20 crashes), Charles Deam Ct. (approximately 12 crashes), Wiley Ave. (approximately nine crashes), Wabash (approximately nine crashes), and Market St. (approximately six crashes).
“One that made the list this year that hadn’t been on the list before was the intersection of Adams and Lancaster,” said Schaffer. “There’s a lot more traffic out there, a lot more truck traffic.”
Schaffer moved on, saying, “The department wrote lots of traffic warnings and lots of traffic arrests. We wrote 152 more citations this year (2007) than last year.”
She said the most significant of those was the 22 more speeding tickets. “We had more speeders, we had more speeding tickets, we had more crashes. It all makes sense.”
106 more seat belt tickets were written in 2007 than 2006, but Schaffer said that was due to a change in the seat belt law.
The department wrote fewer child restraint tickets, dropping from 14 in 2006 to eight in 2007. Schaffer also said police officers now have a resource they give out to those pulled over for child restraint violations. It was provided by the Wells County Health Foundation.
Concerning criminal arrests, thefts and battery had the highest counts (71 thefts, 69 battery cases). Schaffer pointed out that minors in possession of alcohol had decreased (from 62 in 2006 to 49 in 2007), but public intoxication had increased (52 in 2006 to 57 in 2007).
City council member Bette Erxleben asked how Bluffton compared to other cities of the same size in terms of drug arrests. Schaffer replied, “I don’t know percentage-wise, but I think we’re pretty even. I think we have the same issues.”
She did add that she was surprised Bluffton had not been inundated with methamphetamines. “I like to say it’s because of good police work,” she said, grinning. “But for whatever reason, we’re not seeing a lot of it.”
She did say “the methamphetamine society” was more mobile now. They did not stay in one place for very long.
Burglaries increased again in 2007, going from 17 to 23.
Resisting law enforcement had decreased from 23 to 10. Schaffer attributed this to the police department arming officers with tasers, which had proven to be a good deterrent. Disorderly conduct arrests had increased from 23 to 45, however.
The number of case reports decreased from 1,664 in 2006 to 1,520 in 2007. Schaffer said this was probably because the department hired three new officers.
Officers drove a total of 211,024 miles, which was 15,890 more than the year before, but consumed 951 fewer gallons of gasoline than in 2006 and increased miles per gallon from 11.2 to 12.8.
“I think when we went to the Chargers,” said Schaffer, “[they] are getting better gas mileage.
“The overall for the fleet vehicles,” she continued, “the ones that are one the road twenty-four-seven, went from 9.63 miles per gallon to 11.65.”
In terms of officer activity, the department conducted 10,465 business checks, which Schaffer said were greatly appreciated.
“Once again, my favorite statistic is the lockouts,” said Schaffer. “We did 930 this year. That averages 18.7 per week or 2.67 a day.” And those are just cars.
The department made 3,308 “other assists” with agencies like the fire department, EMS and others.
Officers also made 76 child safety seat checks, which involved installing a citizen’s child car seat and explaining the importance of the seats and how they work.
They also made 1,091 house checks, investigated 353 alarms, made 170 escorts, and made 189 motorist assists.
Parking enforcement personnel wrote 631 parking tickets (down from 818 in 2006) for a total revue of $3,595 with 34 unpaid tickets. Police officers wrote 230 tickets for a total revenue of $1,465 with 17 unpaid tickets.
Ordinance violations increased in 2007. Junk vehicle citations went from 64 in 2006 to 173. Weed complaints went from 64 to 77 and junk (other than vehicles) went from 52 to 76.
“I think what this shows us,” began Schaffer, “is we are addressing those issues. I think people are seeing that we’re addressing those issues, so they’re calling them in in order to get something done.”
She added that 231 warning letters had been sent out in 2007. A total of 65 cases were referred to city court. Surprisingly, there were no rental ordinance complaints.
Concerning detective activities, 64 felony charges were filed by detectives Steve Cale and Kyle Randall; 183 criminal cases were initiated; 47 child sexual abuse investigations were made by Cale, officer Dennis Fiscus and officer Greg Steele; and there were 24 additional investigations of physical abuse or CHINS (child in need of services).
Detectives also collected 393 pieces of evidence in 2007 and processed 2,557 digital photographs.
The department has four officers in the D.A.R.E. program: Bruce Holland, Geoff Gilbert, Dennis Fiscus, and Schaffer herself.
Holland teaches classes for first and fifth graders at Bluffton-Harrison Elementary, 10th graders at the high school and first graders at Lancaster Elementary. He is also a school resource officer.
Holland was named the National D.A.R.E. officer of the year, a “huge honor” for him and the department, said Schaffer.
Gilbert attended D.A.R.E. officer training in June 2007 and now teaches fifth grade classes at Lancaster Elementary.
Schaffer teaches at Southern Wells High School, and Fiscus teaches every other year at Covenant Christian School.
Schaffer said the department has two crime scene investigators: Sgt. Mike Miller and Sgt. Chris Broderick. They handle such things as fingerprints, tool mark comparisons and DNA.
Crime scene investigators have also done PR work teaching classes at Senior Exploration and the library.
The department’s new equipment in 2007 included more Dodge Chargers, a radar unit, a CVSA, six ballistic vests, night vision binoculars, and a baton and kickbag for defensive tactics.
Schaffer said she was surprised to find out that in 2007, the department received $36,872 from outside sources like Citizens Against Drug Abuse, Wells Community Health Services Foundation Auxiliary and United Way Special Funding, among others.
In total, officers spent 1,489.5 hours in training in 2007. This did not include the 600 hours new officers spent in the academy. This was an average of 74.48 hours per officer. The Indiana law Enforcement Academy requires 16 hours a year, but that number will increase to 24 in 2009.
Schaffer mentioned the department’s community policing included the Health Fair for first graders, honor guard and career expo, among other things.
Schaffer reported that the K-9 unit, officer Bob Morgan and police dog Reno gave six demonstrations to a total of 137 people; searched 100 lockers, finding drugs in one; and searched 233 vehicles, find drugs in 35 of them; among other calls they took.
Schaffer concluded by giving her goals for 2008. She hopes to continue to train officers, make the bike patrol more active, replace records management system, hire additional officers, continue to seek outside funding, and take cars home.
nathan@news-banner.com
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