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Show ?y '.V - ,; i 'i- 1 i .'r ' , ' ' " -. - 'I' " J c v v ft . f ; Pleasant Grove Police Chief Mike Ferre goes over the 1984 police report with secretary, Sherri Atwood. Police clear majority of crimes By MARCELLA WALKER ' j Pleasant Grove Police Chief Mike J Ferre discussed the 1984 police " report for the city and stated that he SB believes the taxpayers are getting their money's worth in police protection. The chief proudly pointed out that the city had a clearance (solving) rate of 57 per cent in their Part I crime report, an increase of six per cent over the previous year, lie The 1984 report for the entire state of Utah is not yet released but last year the clearance rate average in the state was about 27 per cent, Chief Ferre said. He noted that he does not know of a ' department with as good a clearance rate as that of Pleasant Grove. Chief Ferre said that he thinks the m department is doing a better job, even with the added responsibilities of Lindon law enforcement, than ever before. jjw He attributes this to high ex-d; ex-d; pectations from the officers, high i" morale in the department, crime '' prevention programs, and extended manhour coverage. Although he feels good about what the report shows with 57 per cent clearance rate, it still means that 43 J; cent are not cleared and they ji will continue to try to raise the 'M clearance rate. The chief added that possibly the Ira high clearance rate is a H discouragement to potential M criminals to stay clear of the area . j The year just ended was a growing year for the department, with one "car tragedy to mar the 12 months. Jn January of 1984, the department began to have 24-hour dispatch from the Public Safety Building. Dispatchers had previously worked out of an apartment above the City Hall on weekends and evenings. This new step gave the dispatchers easier shifts and the department received extra secretarial help when needed. On May 31 the Pleasant Grove , Police Department began providing police protection to the city of Lindon when it disbanded us own department in an effort to cut costs. At this same time, two officers were seriously injured in an auto accident in Orem. Mike Blackhurst and Steve Frampton were lost to the department for considerable time as they recovered from their injuries. The department increased its staff to eleven officers on Oct. 15. The department's investigation of some burglaries at the Lindon Industrial In-dustrial Park led to the arrest in December of five individuals which solved more than 75 burglaries throughout the state. The report states that there were 3,740 calls for police service during the year. There were 222 ambulance runs, and 112 fire alarms. The department had 1,215 offense reports, 966 citations, and 209 traffic accidents. The city had no murders, no rapes, and no robberies during the year. In 1984 there were 420 adults arrested which was a 24 per cent increase over the previous year. The officers arrested 320 juveniles, a jump of 77 per cent over 1983. The chief said that because of the juvenile statistics last year, the department decided to put more , emphasis on juvenile problems which resulted in the higher arrest ;i rate. On liquor violations alone, the ; department arrested 102 adults for a 21 percent increase over 1983, but they arrested 34 juveniles for a 209 percent increase. The chief noted that students from Central High School, located across the street from the Public Snfety Building, had been part of ' the juvenile problem. Many of the tobacco arrests come from there, he said. Part I crimes, including rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, vehicle theft, and arson, went up in general. So did the clearance rate. The city had 46 assault cases, 49 burglaries, 282 larcenies (a large number of which are thefts from autos), 25 vehicle thefts and one arson. More of these Part I crimes were committed by juveniles than adults with 45 adults arrested and 123 juveniles. Part II crimes include all other forms including vandalism, dui, intoxication, liquor laws, drug offenses, of-fenses, sex offenses (excluding rape), harassing communication, driving violations, family offenses, fraud, forgery, tobacco violations, hit and run, child abuse, etc. There was a total of 1,336 Part II offenses of which 81 per cent were cleared. In this category there were 420 adults arrested and 328 juveniles. The chief said that after reviewing the figures on- driving under the influence of alcohol arrests, he felt that the law was not doing what it was intended to do. There were 43 DUI arrests in 1984 and 33 in 1983. This was an increase of 33 per cent. Of those arrested this past year, 34 were males and 9 were females. There were 32 convictions for DUI for 74 per cent. Officers arrested eight individuals as a result of accidents ac-cidents caused by DUI. ' In 1983 the grand total of Part II crimes was 944 offenses. There were 338 adults arrested and 181 juveniles taken into custody for these crimes. In 1984 the department made 748 arrests on Part I and Part II crimes and in 1983 there were 519 arrests. The chief pointed out that this was a 44 percent increase in arrests in-1984. in-1984. He estimated the cost of law enforcement en-forcement to each citizen in the city is $34, one of the lowest per capita costs in the state. He concluded that the officers are aware of the goals of the depart-inent, depart-inent, even though they may be high goals, and endeavor to reach for them. Both the chief and Lt. Tom Paul were enthusiastic about crime prevention programs, including the Neighborhood Watch and McGruff programs. These programs help to build a rapport between citizens and officers and the citizens report more crimes to the police. The department head said that the manpower coverage, even with the added responsbilities of Lindon, has contributed to the excellent stats the city has had this year. |
