One Fayette County crime statistic jumps out: A lot more folks this year are calling 911 because of family violence or face-to-face disputes than last year.
In nearly all categories the number of calls relating to potential crimes remained relatively stable between the two reporting periods. The most pronounced exception was in the combined category dealing with domestic-family violence, arguments and various types of disputes between acquaintances or strangers.
Those calls increased dramatically from 88 in the first half of 2012 to 457 calls in the first half of 2013. Investigators said there was no one area to point to in accounting for the increase.
Fayette County Sheriff Barry Babb has released statistics for the first six months of 2012 and 2013 pertaining to the types of calls received by 911 operators, the total number of calls received by 911, response time by deputies and the quantities and dollar amounts involved in the drug cases in which agents of the sheriff’s Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) participated with state and federal law enforcement agencies.
It is noteworthy that a “call” dispatched by 911 does not necessarily indicate that a crime occurred or that an arrest was made. A “call” is the communication received by a 911 dispatcher that must be followed up by a deputy arriving at the scene and generating a report.
Also showing an increase were vehicle theft calls, registering nine in the first half of 2012 and 31 for the same period in 2013.
Burglary calls in the first half of 2012 totaled 82 while that number decreased to 62 during the same period in 2013.
Drug calls increased during the two periods, from 67 in 2012 to 83 in 2013.
Assault calls declined from 12 in the first six months of 2012 to eight in 2013. Calls pertaining to fraud remained nearly stable, recording 145 in the 2012 period and 141 in 2013.
Robbery calls edged up in 2013 with seven compared to two in the first half of 2012.
Calls pertaining to rape and murder remained virtually unchanged. Five rape calls were received by dispatchers in the first half of 2012 while the same period in 2013 saw four calls. And calls pertaining to murder remained unchanged at one each for the two reporting periods.
Data for theft and entering auto calls were combined into one category for the first six months of 2012 due to the configuration of the computer software. Those two categories showed 222 calls for that period. A breakdown of the categories for the same time period during 2013 showed 34 entering auto calls and 269 theft calls.
Babb also provided data on the number of 911 calls dispatched, the number of DUI cases and the average response time by deputies in the first half of 2012 compared to the first six months of 2013.
The first six months of 2012 saw 22,838 calls dispatched by 911. That compares to 21,796 calls in the first half of 2013.
The first half of 2012 brought 24 DUI cases. That number more than doubled to 52 cases in the first six months of 2013.
Response times by deputies across Fayette County decreased significantly between the two periods from 7 minutes, 51 seconds in 2012 to 6 minutes, 24 seconds in 2013.
Babb also reported on the dollar amount and quantity of drugs seized during the first six months of 2012 and 2013. Those figures largely represent the activities of TNT agents and their operations in connection with state and federal agencies outside Fayette County.
The first six months of 2012 resulted in 109 arrests, the seizure of $3.04 million and the confiscation of 108 pounds of marijuana, 70.8 kilograms of cocaine and 25 grams of methamphetamine. The same period in 2013 resulted in 103 arrests, the seizure of $1.29 million, 1,639 pounds of marijuana, 21 kilograms of cocaine and 77 pounds of methamphetamine.
As reported previously, the cash seized and subsequently received by the sheriff’s office through federal equitable sharing funds continues to decrease over time.
