In Sumner County, overall, the crime rate is dropping. But some areas are still causing headaches for local law enforcement.
Wellington Police cleared 75 more cases in 2009 than in 2008, taking only 19 less cases than last year — a total of 1,877. Certain types of crime, however, are on the rise.
“I think we’ve seen a slight increase in certain offenses,” said Wellington Police Chief Heath. “I want to say it’s attributed to the economy and what we are going through as far as the economy is concerned.”
Drug offenses are on the rise in Wellington. There were a total of 48 prescription drug cases in 2009 compared to 23 in 2008, Heath said.
“I know as far as drugs, we’ve been a little more active...I know there have been some different approaches we have utilized as far as our investigation into drug-related offenses,” said Heath.
More of a police presence may be to blame for the increase in traffic violations as well, the police chief said. A total of 902 traffic violations were issued in 2009 — 121 more than in 2008.
“There were certain targeted areas...and we would target certain areas when we get complaints from citizens,” Heath said. “We will...choose a time frame and monitor those particular areas to see if we have a concern.”
Thefts, suspicious activity, forgery and burglary are all down from 2008. Again, Heath attributes the decrease to increased patrols and investigation techniques.
“My old saying is I want guys to be visible to be out there on the street and view that patrol vehicle as basically their office,” Heath said.
“When you look at it from the perspective of total cases...there is a slight decrease. There isn’t one that I would be concerned about and would attribute anything to that,” Heath said.
County-wide preventable crimes have fallen, though personal crimes have risen.
Driving under the influence nearly tripped over 2008’s numbers with 75 cases reported in 2009.
Personnel changes and more training for officers are also part of why more drunk drivers are being caught, he said.
“While those drivers were still out there, our officers either weren’t able to detect them or not working as hard to get them off the road as we should [have been],” Gilkey said.
Domestic violence, rape, civil disputes, aggravated battery and suspicious activity are all on the rise from 2008, and the Sheriff says as the economy turns, more person on person crimes will occur.
“One of the things they argue the most about is money. So you have man and his wife arguing about money and their finances, a lot of domestic disputes occur because of that. The same with DUIs and driving while suspended. People aren’t at work so they have more time to go out and find alternative things to do and they don’t have the finances to keep up with the insurance and paying off their fines and things like that,” Gilkey said.
Rape in particular has steadily been on the rise over the past few years, Gilkey said, and it’s a concern for the department.
“We’ve been watching this for the past couple of years and it’s continually increasing...I don’t want to throw a red flag out there, but we’ve got issues,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s the way our young people are acting now a days or a lack parenting. I don’t know what it is, but we’ve got a lot of young people getting themselves in bad situations.”
The news isn’t all bad, however. Problems the public can prevent are also falling with issues like traffic accidents and identity theft.
“People are paying more attention to their sensitive information...I think it’s just a learning curve for the general public. Everyone knows that it is so easy to become a victim of identity theft that they are protecting themselves.”
Both felony and misdemeanor thefts are down as well, with SCSO solving double the national average in cases — about 14 percent.
“We’re able to find more than most,” said Gilkey, who credits old-fashioned detective work and the department’s detectives for their success.
Though numbers are lower than last year, both department heads agree more will be done in the upcoming year to help curve more crime despite not having much money to help do so.
“We’ve got to do more with what we have. We’ve got to be able to provide better services because we work for the people of Sumner County so if we have to bend over backwards or work a little harder, that’s what we are going to have to do,” Gilkey said.
Wellington, Kan. —
