For the Ironton Police Department 2009 was a busy year. Crime statistics were released last week and while the year closed without a single murder, property crimes (thefts and burglaries) increased. Even so, the number of break-ins at area businesses decreased, as did traffic citations.

“This shows us where our weaknesses are and where we need to improve,” Police Chief Jim Carey said.

Calls for help

There were 34,829 calls to the IPD last year. That’s roughly an 8 percent increase over 2008’s total of 31,894 and is in keeping with a year-long trend.

To compare 2009 with previous years, in 2008 there were 23,187 calls for assistance. In 2007 there were 17,792 calls to the police department.

This includes every single telephone call, from inquiries about trick-or-treat times and the start time for the Memorial Day Parade (yes, people really do call an emergency service agency for this information) to reports of burglaries in progress.

It includes reports of domestics and requests for assistance to other entities, such as SEOEMS. It also includes calls during which the caller only requested that information be “logged” but requested no report be filed or action taken. This includes, for example, people who called and reported infractions in child custody agreements and requests to have extra patrols in their neighborhood.

Life threatening or not, it falls into the IPD’s lap.

“If you go from 2006 to 2009, it’s a 96 percent increase in (the number of) calls,” Carey said.

Good news

The city completed 2009 without a single murder. In fact, it’s been two years since the city had a murder. While murders might make headlines when they do occur, they don’t occur very often.

There have been 16 murders between 1997 and 2007 and in that time, only three murders have remained unsolved, that of William Keen in 2000, Pamela Goldcamp in 2002 and Thelma Mooney in 2007.

“That’s an 81 percent solve rate,” Carey said. “It’s a misconception the public has, that (all) murders go unsolved.”

All of the people arrested for the 13 solved murders were tried and convicted, hence, a 100 percent conviction rate.

There were two murders in 2007, two in 2006 and two in 2005.

What’s down?

The total number of arrests (excluding traffic citations) decreased in 2009. There were 311 arrests last year, compared to 401 the year before. The number of reports filed dropped as well, from 1,475 in 2008 to 1,350 in 2009.

The number of traffic citations written in 2009 dropped substantially from the year before: 567 versus 1,251.

Carey said this may in part be due to a manpower shortage. At one point in 2009 the department was short four officers. He said enforcement prior to the shortage was heavy.

The number of criminal damaging (vandalism) cases dropped from 96 in 2008 to 66 in 2009 —the lowest it has been in four years and a substantial decrease from 2007 when the IPD fielded 193 such cases.

What’s up?

Property crimes are up. The number of thefts reported last year totaled 349 and while it’s an increase from the year before (339 thefts were reported in 2008), it’s a decrease from 2007 (449 thefts) and 2006 (483 thefts).

There was an increase in the number of burglaries reported as well. The IPD handled 104 burglary calls last year, as compared with 89 the year before.

Carey said he was not sure why the number of burglaries has spiked but agreed it may be tied to the economy. He said it may also be due in part to societal changes.

“Things are not like they used to be, when you could go and leave your house unlocked and not have to worry. You knew who lived beside you.

Now, sometimes you don’t know. People move in and out,” Carey said.

Oddly, the number of breaking and entering cases, (break-ins that do not involve houses and usually involve businesses) declined last year. In 2009, 54 B&Es were reported.

In 2008 there were 85 such crimes reported to the police department.

Vehicle thefts (the theft of automobiles) increased from 13 in 2008 to 24 in 2009. Thefts of items from vehicles jumped substantially as well: from 61 in 2008 to 105 in 2009 — a 72 percent increase.

Carey urged people to not leave items in plain view in their vehicles when they get out of them.

“I think a lot of this could be prevented with some education and if people would practice some prevention,” Carey said. “I think we could decrease this.”

The number of traffic crashes increased from 345 in 2008 to 355 in 2009 but is considerably less than the number of crashes reported in the three previous years.

Parking violations — cars parked illegally, for instance, or in violation of the city’s five-day ordinance — increased in 2009. There were 100 parking violations tallied in 2009, versus 87 in 2008 and 97 in 2007.

The number of felonious assaults jumped as well, from 27 in 2008 to 34 in 2009.

The number of rapes increased from 5 in 2007 and 2008 to 9 in 2009. Four rapes were reported in 2006.

Remains the same

Domestic violence calls remained unchanged from 2008 to 2009, with 96 calls each year. These figures are lower than the 146 reported in 2007 and 116 in 2006.

The number of assaults on police officers remained the same. In 2008 and 2009, four IPD officers were assaulted in the line of duty. Only one such assault was reported in 2007.

Carey said none of the assaults last year resulted in major injury to the officers.

But he pointed out anytime there is a call for help, there is the potential for an officer to be injured answering that call, regardless of the kind of call.

“There was one time when I went on a disturbance (call) at a barber shop and there ended up being hostages,” Carey said. “One time we got a call at the old Burger King, asking us to clear the lot. A fight broke out and I got run over.”

Drug trafficking arrests made by the IPD stayed the same from 2008 to 2009. There were five such arrests both years. However, arrests for other drug offenses jumped from 27 in 2008 to 44 in 2009.

These figures do not include drug arrests made within the city limits by the Lawrence County Drug and Major Crimes Task Force.