Statesboro Police Department (SPD) Chief Mike Broadhead presented his annual report to the Statesboro City Council in a recent work session held by the council. The Chief reported that all major violent crime indexes have plummeted in the city over the past decade. With the exception of the spike in 2020 in homicides, which corrected in 2021, the crime numbers continue to trend downward. The last homicide in the city was in May of 2022. Aggravated assaults and robberies have both fallen sharply as well.
"I think it is important to try and manage the perception of crime in the City of Statesboro versus the reality of crime. We can look at statistics and say this is great, everything is trending downward, which is great. However, if you rely solely on social media, the fear of crime has increased dramatically," said Chief Broadhead.
"We are very transparent when a crime occurs in the city. We communicate with local media and on our social media to inform citizens what has happened. We even report when an arrest has been made in a violent crime for community knowledge. However, this does lead to people thinking we have terrible crime issues, which is just not the case. In fact, I saw a post on social media just this week with a lady saying she grew up in Compton, L.A., and compared Statesboro to Compton from a crime perspective. That is just not the case. Crime is low here. It continues to trend low, and we hope these trends continue."
Chief Broadhead focused on key areas the department monitors statistically and shared this in his report. CLICK HERE to view the presentation.
Training
Training has been a priority with officers completing over 17,000 hours of training. This averages to almost 200 hours per officer. The state's requirement annually for training is 20 hours. Even non-sworn officers averaged over 50 hours last year.
Use of Force
SPD classifies Use of Force as anytime an officer uses a tool of some kind in making an arrest, or if the person is injured or makes a complaint of injury, they track that as a Use of Force.
Of almost 1,300 arrests, they had Use of Force that met this definition only 19 times, meaning only 1.5% of SPD arrests involved Use of Force. SPD has seen this number remain at 1.5% for the past five years.
Traffic Crash Report
The top five traffic crash locations are all at roads that intersect with Veterans Memorial Parkway. Chief Broadhead attributed this in part to the volume of traffic at a higher rate of speed allowed on the parkway.
Patrol Statistics
SPD officers responded to nearly 42,000 calls for service, which is a 6% increase over 2021.
- 4,600 resulted in police reports
- 3,644 citations given
Property crime
Property crime has continued to trend downward as well. In the past decade, larceny has gone from over 1,000 cases reported to half of that last year. Burglaries have decreased over the past decade to just over 100, which is down from nearly 300.
Crimes Committed with a Firearm
Robbery with a firearm dropped to 6, and assault with a firearm decreased to 16. Both of these are trending downward.
SPD has been working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to try to find different ways to combat violent crime involving a firearm. Last year, SPD recovered 96 firearms that they identify as crime guns. These are guns that were used in a crime, seized as part of a criminal investigation, or used in a suicide.
The "time to crime" number is very interesting.
- 23 guns were recovered within one year of a legal sale.
- Of those, 11 were recovered within 3 months of a legal sale.
This indicates that they were probably straw purchases. Somebody bought the guns legally to give to someone illegally who couldn't purchase a gun themselves. They in turn use that gun in a crime. Almost none of these guns were purchased in Statesboro. The guns purchased in Statesboro that have become crime guns have become crime guns primarily in the state of New York. This is why the ATF is so focused on stopping this interstate travel of illegal guns.
- 8 of the 96 firearms were in possession of someone 17 and younger at the time they were seized by SPD
- 18 were in possession of someone 21 and younger when they were seized by SPD
"We know that human brain development is not good until about 24 to 26. People who have not quite developed the brain capacity for decision making and consequences are arming themselves. This is a problem," said Chief Broadhead.
Fusus Project
City Council has been very supportive of this project financially. SPD currently has agreements with cameras in 41 locations, giving them access to 660 cameras. Through our agreement with citizens who own these cameras, they share video directly with the police department. SPD officers can access the video in real time or immediately after a crime has been committed and officers have begun their investigations. A few weeks ago, SPD had a homicide case that went to trial that resulted in a conviction. The reason they were able to put that individual in custody so quickly was because the Fusus camera systems allowed SPD dispatchers to watch the murder suspect flee from the scene of the murder and direct officers to his location.
Extraordinary work
Grice Connect works closely with all local public safety agencies including SPD. Chief Broadhead's leadership is impactful with the department. As his report shows, the SPD officers are tremendously dedicated to improving their knowledge through training. This in turn has an incredible impact on the continued success for the department. Even though SPD is short staffed, the men and women of the SPD do an extraordinary job protecting our community.