
By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
The Decatur Police Departmen handled 11,441 service calls last year, an average of 953 calls per month and an average of 31 a day, according to a report issued by Chief Kevin Gerber at the January 21 meeting of city council.
“The breakdown is not of every single call type, these are just the higher numbers that I felt the public would be interested in,” he said in releasing the report
The top five categories were:
Traffic stops, 2,715;
Assisting someone, 1,480 (in-person and via phone calls combined, for civil issues, criminal investigations and more);
Building checks, 1,121;
VIN (vehicle inspection numbers) inspections, 633 (395 golf carts, 140 UTVs);
Unlocking vehicles, 418.
A total of 567 calls were for traffic-related issues, according to the report, within the following categories:
Abandoned vehicle, attempt to locate, funeral escort, parking complaint/problem, property-damage traffic accident, personal-injury traffic accidents (387 combined traffic accidents), reckless driving, radar traffic enforcement, suspicious vehicle, traffic control, traffic hazard.
ACADEMY UPDATE: Gerber also told council that the department’s new recruit, Dallas Creager, is doing well in his training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield.
Creager, 26, was hired by Decatur’s board of works and safety at its Jan. 7 meeting; he was sworn in and left for Plainfield that night.
The native of Bluffton and graduate of Southern Wells High School has been a member of the Geneva Police Department since last May.
His academy class is scheduled to graduate April 25, then he will join the Decatur PD and begin a year of field training.
Creager’s hiring will bring the Decatur PD up to full force once again: 20 officers, including Gerber and Deputy Chief Jeff Brite.