Sean C. Morgan
According to Sweet Home Police Department records, the city had 155 fewer reports of crime last year compared to the previous year, a decline of 19.5 percent.
Police officers responded to 8,639 calls in 2019, down 10.25 percent from 9,626 in 2018. The total number of calls received by dispatchers decreased slightly, from 18,456 to 18,184.
The number of person crimes increased by 20.5 percent, from 151 in 2018 to 182 in 2019. Examples of person crimes are harassment, assaults, menacing, sex offenses, rape and murder.
In 2019, Sweet Home police received 638 reports of crimes, while in 2018, Sweet Home had 793 reported crimes.
The number of property crimes fell 29 percent from 2018, with 642, to 2019, with 456. Examples of property crime are theft, criminal mischief and burglary.
More detailed statistics will be available upon the completion of the Police Department’s annual report.
“It’s a huge gain,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. “It’s just phenomenal. One of our projects this year is to further reduce that number. We’re looking at ways to improve it.”
So many factors impact crime rates, many of them outside of police control, that it makes it difficult to explain the decrease, Lynn said. Crime can be cyclical. One person getting out of prison can change crime rates overnight.
“Luck” can play a part, he said, but “our officers are out in the field, and they’re doing a fantastic job with followup investigations.”
Police are continuing to work on those factors they can address, Lynn said. Early last year, Sweet Home had a rash of car prowls. While that number has fallen, the police will continue targeted patrols in areas where they are seeing problems.
“We’re trying to use the problem-oriented policing model,” Lynn said. It’s among the most effective approaches when used properly.
Under that model, when police see an issue or a problem, they analyze the data and come up with responses, Lynn said. With the car prowls last year, police used targeted patrols and developed messaging to the community.
Nearly all of the car prowls involved unlocked vehicles, and police continually reminded people last year to lock their doors.
Recently, the department has been breaking down data on thefts among residences and businesses, by far the most numerous property crime, to identify trends, Lynn said. Reducing the number of thefts further is among special projects for the department this year.
Among efforts to continue cutting the crime rate, the police are planning to implement “My Civic Eye,” a program which they can use to catalog various private surveillance systems, with permission from the owners. Investigating officers can then ask those individuals for help in identifying suspects.
Lynn said he wants to have consistent messaging to the public on a variety of issues. Every day at 7:24 p.m., the department will post a one-line message on Facebook, such as a reminder to lock the door.
“Maybe one person will think, maybe I didn’t lock my car,” Lynn said, and it’ll prevent a theft.
On the streets, police are gathering data that will guide their traffic enforcement, Lynn said, and they will regularly run grant-funded DUII, crosswalk and seatbelt enforcement efforts.
Going forward this year, the department will probably invoke the city’s chronic nuisance property ordinance, Lynn said. “We have some problem locations (two houses in particular) we are focusing attention on.”
Under the ordinance, properties where police make frequent arrests may be deemed chronic nuisances and temporarily closed for use by the city.
That law was among the tools available in cleaning up criminal activity in the 1200 block of Nandina Street, Lynn said. While it was never invoked, “I learned a lot when we tackled Nandina Street.”
Property owners made the difference there and in other locations over the years, including 1530 Tamarack St., Tamarack Ridge Estates, previously Mountain Shadows manufactured home park, and the north end of 18th Avenue and its cross streets.
Staffing is changing in the Police Department this year.
Officer Jerred Nelson is going to work for Oregon State Police, and the department has or will have two police officer positions, its evidence and community services officer position and a part-time dispatcher position open. Lynn said he anticipates up to two retirements this year.
Among special projects, “we’re going to try to focus on repeat offenders,” Lynn said, and department staff want to reduce the number of warrant arrests they make, particularly with failure to appear and failure to comply warrants coming out of Municipal Court.
It’s not an isolated problem, Lynn said, and it’s a problem at the county level with circuit court warrants.
Last year, police had 202 cases in which they arrested someone with a Sweet Home warrant, Lynn said. They made 278 arrests on warrants from other agencies.
“It’s a significant problem,” Lynn said, but “you want them to be held accountable.”
The point is to gain compliance with the judge, Lynn said. He hopes to work with the judge on ways to do it. Among ideas, volunteers may call defendants to remind them about their court days.
Lynn continues to be focused on homelessness, he said, and he’s hoping to address some of their needs through a community court system, with representatives of different social services available, where the homeless and others can get the various kinds of help they may need.
He also plans to explore alternative sentencing, such as work crew.
“Can we bring things like that?” Lynn said. That’ll depend on cost.
“This is the year we put a lot of emphasis on reserves and Explorers,” Lynn said. His goal is to create systems where those programs proactively run themselves.