Total incidents, citations for Powell police rose slightly in 2016

Posted 4/6/17

Police Chief Roy Eckerdt summarized the report at a recent Powell City Council meeting, detailing the number of traffic stops, total incidents, number of citations and trends, to name a few.

“I want to point out some highlights and try to …

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Total incidents, citations for Powell police rose slightly in 2016

Posted

2016 was another busy year for the Powell Police Department, with a slight rise in incident reports and citations, according to a recently released annual report.

Police Chief Roy Eckerdt summarized the report at a recent Powell City Council meeting, detailing the number of traffic stops, total incidents, number of citations and trends, to name a few.

“I want to point out some highlights and try to dispel some rumors, myths and beliefs that you hear about, especially as council members,” Eckerdt told the council.

Eckerdt began his presentation with traffic stops, of which there were 1,633 in 2016. Of those stops, the police department wrote 543 citations and issued 1,090 warnings.

“Realistically, we’re maintaining right around that 70-75 percent warning versus citation,” Eckerdt said. “We encourage a lot of officer discretion when they’re writing citations versus warnings. Our goal is always to change behavior; it’s not about dollar signs or the number of citations written — rather, it’s to bring people into compliance, reduce the risk of accidents and make Powell a safer place. That’s the goal.”

Of the 543 citations written, vehicle insurance and registration violations topped the list with 149, followed by speeding in a school zone with 71. Driving while under the influence (DWUI) netted 56 citations and driving under suspension 50.

“You do see seat belts on there, and believe it or not, that’s usually a discretionary one too, because seat belts aren’t a primary offense in Wyoming,” Eckerdt said. “That means somebody probably got caught speeding, but the officer felt like they needed a break, and gave them a seat belt citation instead if they weren’t wearing their belt. It’s a non-moving violation that won’t affect their insurance.”

Traffic accidents decreased in 2016, with 118 reported. That was the lowest total in years and down from 159 in 2015. Backing up without caution was the leading cause of last year’s crashes, with 30 accidents recorded, followed by careless/reckless driving and driving too fast for conditions.

An increase in drug activity continues to be a concern for the department, as the number of drug crimes jumped considerably from fewer than 150 in 2015 to more than 200 in 2016. Alcohol-related crimes also increased from a little more than 100 in 2015 to 150 in 2016.

“We really try to strike a balance with our policing and the needs of the community,” Eckerdt said. “When we see increases in crime, especially drug traffic, it always goes hand-in-hand with property crime. As we start to see an up-tick in that, you’re going to see an increase in our police presence.”

Part of that increased police presence includes traffic enforcement. According to Eckerdt, the vast majority of the department’s warrant arrests and drug arrests are the result of routine traffic stops.

“Nobody likes getting stopped,” Eckerdt said. “But for the public to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing — yes, it’s for traffic safety, but there’s also a lot of other things going on in our community, and that’s a venue for us to be able to try and address it.”

Eckerdt cites the accessibility of a growing variety of drugs for the increase in drug-related crimes. Drugs popular in the 1980s and ’90s are making a comeback, aided in no small part by technology and the internet — areas law enforcement can’t always police effectively.

“In all my years in law enforcement, I’ve never seen a time when there wasn’t one drug that was predominant,” he explained. “Right now, we’re in a time where it’s pretty much a level playing field. Do we see more marijuana than other drugs? Yeah, we do. But we’re also seeing heroin, meth, we’re starting to see LSD, we’re seeing MDMA [commonly known as Ecstasy]. It’s not one drug; it’s the whole gamut. And that’s very disconcerting.”

As for violent crime, Powell’s violent crime index is based on Uniformed Crime Reporting (UCR) rates from the federal government, and generally lag behind about a year. Reports for 2015, however, show that Powell ranks well below state and national rates.

“We don’t have numbers yet for violent crimes for 2016,” Eckerdt said. “There’s been a huge spike in Wyoming cities, and somewhat of an increase for Powell. But 2014 was down significantly from years past. It’s always going to fluctuate a little bit — that’s something we don’t have control over — but we work to try to address these issues.”

Eckerdt said crimes against persons has been a heavy focus for the department over the last three years, and the development of a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) is currently underway to deal with sex crimes. Police presence has also been increased on the NWC campus.

“SART will incorporate the hospitals, all the law enforcement agencies in Park County, crisis intervention, everybody working together as a team to bring those cases through to fruition,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s part of the reason that number [of sex crimes] has dropped. A lot of education is going on at the college and in the community.”

Meanwhile, crimes against public order (breach of peace, interference) have increased, with interference at a five-year high in 2016, at just under 30 reported. Interference is defined by Eckerdt as “doing something to delay or prohibit an investigation moving forward.” That can include providing false information to an officer, as well as fighting an arrest.

“We don’t want to over-use that when somebody lies to us as opposed to when they fight with us,” Eckerdt said. “But if it’s something that results in an investigation that would have been done that night but instead it stretches out three months because of bad information, we’ll go ahead and make that charge because of the time and money invested in that lie.”

At the conclusion of Eckerdt’s presentation to the City Council, Councilman Jim Hillberry praised the chief and his department.

“I’d like to express my appreciation for the job you and your staff are doing in our community,” Hillberry said. “Especially the efforts you’re putting toward drug control.”

The complete report can be viewed on the Powell Police Department website, www.powellpolice.com.

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