Toccoa Police Release Year End Report

Year-end numbers from the Toccoa Police Department show that 2015 was a very busy year for the force.

According to figures released Tuesday by the department, Toccoa Police responded to a total of 2,186 incidents in 2015, an increase of more than 300 from 2014, when police responded to 1,857 incidents.

Police did clear a higher percentage of cases in 2015, 84 percent, than in 2014, when 72 percent of cases were cleared.

Also, 36 percent of cases in 2015 were cleared by arrest, an increase from 2014’s figure of 34 percent.

Toccoa Police Chief Tim Jarrell said he does not believe that crime was on the rise, but instead that more crimes were actually being reported.

“The community has seen that the officers are more approachable,” said Jarrell. “In doing follow-ups myself, contacting victims of crimes and talking with them just periodically, I have had many people tell me that they were not going to report these incidents or they were not going to report they were a victim of crime because they did not feel like it would do any good. In the end, when we were able to clear by arrest or recover their property, they were telling me they were glad they did so.”

Incidents in almost all categories were up, including burglaries; crimes against persons like robbery, assault, criminal damage, and child abuse; and domestic incidents.

Also up were drug investigations and drug arrests.

Toccoa Police conducted 113 drug investigations and made 131 arrests in 2015, up from 85 investigations and 94 arrests in 2014.

Jarrell said those increases are due to officers going the extra mile.

“They go beyond just the initial encounter with a motorist or the initial encounter of taking a report,” said Jarrell.

One area where reports were down was both residential and business thefts.

Jarrell said he attributes this to officers doing more foot patrols and business checks.

“By being out of the car, they see more and are being seen more,” said Jarrell. “They are being a deterrent by doing that.”

Overall, the police department responded to 19,553 calls for service in 2015 compared to 18,390 in 2014.

Jarrell said he is very proud of the efforts of the men and women at the police department for their hard work in keeping up with the increase in call volume.

He did say he would like to fill some open positions in the year ahead to assist with that call volume.

Also, Jarrell said he wants to continue the department’s efforts in community policing.