OCR Text |
Show erooirDe sveays smroe Vernal City Police responded to over tvric as many calls for service in 1981 ftin in liSO. but nearly half of those t$s erfl"t for crimes, reveals the jjgl annual report released by the pcice department. In iV the police department had j,17$ calls for service and the number of -flis increased to 4. 40 in 1981. Nonterminal Non-terminal calls totaled 2.376, misdea-Bftinor misdea-Bftinor reports were 1.6S3 and felony ipcrts were 3S1, during 1981. Misdea-rteanor Misdea-rteanor reports increased 6 percent over 1) and felony reports increased 13 percent. Tie reason for the increase l more Ifcan triple) in non-criminal calls was "the public is becoming more aware of ibe services the police department can xw.ie." Sgt. John P. Parker, Vernal Price Department explained. Son-criminal services provided by lie police department include respon-fc respon-fc to burglar alarms, lost and found, I ts&r persons, business licenses, jtiiecs assist, and assists in other ' irjicfcons. Tie city's response to alarms in-leased in-leased 270 percent which can be at-r.iCed at-r.iCed to an increase in the number of nsess and private alarms. Of the 462 irjliry alarms responded to, 452 were c'xnded and only 10 were actual rres. Tie number of burglaries in the citv declined significantly as did aggravated ag-gravated assault and simple assault. In 1980 there were 181 burglaries reported and in 1981 there were 103, but the dollar value of the items taken during 1981 burglaries increased $3,836. Robberies increased from four in 1980 to seven in 1981. Vernal City Police recovered $110,548 or 31 percent of the total value of items stolen in 1981 -$349,325. In 1980 the department reclaimed 52 percent of stolen dollars. "Much of the stolen property is being transported out of the city, which makes it harder to recover," Parker said. Total arrests for 1981 were slightly higher than in 1980 with a two percent increase. Adult arrests were 481, a nine percent increase, and juvenile arrests were down 17 percent at 129 for 1981. Felony arrests for 1981 were down 12 percent and misdeameanors were up .04 percent. During 19S1 there were reported one arson, 27 forgeries (up 35 percent), 19 sex offenses (up 17 percent), four kidnappings kid-nappings (which includes custodial interference), in-terference), seven robberies I up 75 percent), three rapes (up 50 percent) and three homicides and negligent manslaughter. After Vernal Police Chief Robert T. Downard gave his annual report, the Vernal City Council asked Downard to report in further detail on the out of city calls handled by the City Police Department Depart-ment which would be reported to the County Commissioners. The city responded to 377 assists out of the city limits which is an increase of 41 percent over 1980. Presently the police department has 27 employees, 20 sworn officers and seven civilian employees. This compares com-pares with seventeen sworn officers and three civilian employees at the end of 1980, w hich is a 26 percent growth. In sworn personnel, the average experience ex-perience is four years, .85 years of college, col-lege, average age is 29. Twenty-nine percent are academy graduates and 24 percent have advanced certification. Average experience is 2 5 years. Major changes w ithin the department resulted in a reorganization of the Uniform Field Services Division and Administrative Services Division in 1981. The uniformed division was reorganized to implement the "watch" concept. Each watch (shift) is supervised supervis-ed by a sergeant which allows for closer supervision and more on the job training, train-ing, says the annual report. The Administrative Services Division responsibilities were expanded to include in-clude communication, computer, technical services, supply, inspections and crime prevention. |