The number of drug arrests made last year by Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies increased 33 percent.
That’s according to the department’s annual report, released recently by Sheriff Matt Myers.
The 521 drug arrests last year compared to 392 in 2016, the report said.
That trend is somewhat tied to an increase in traffic stops, which rose by 30 percent last year.
Deputies made 7,323 traffic stops last year, an increase from 5,662, the report said.
Many drug-possession cases originate from routine traffic stops, the report said.
Another component of the drug-fighting effort is the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET), a combined unit of the sheriff’s department, Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s office. Formed in early 2015, JNET targets the manufacturing, sale and abuse of dangerous drugs in Bartholomew County.
JNET last year issued 12 federal indictments involving local drug activity, as well as three state arrests and convictions, the report states.
More than five pounds of crystal methamphetamine, as well as one pound of heroin and more than 150 firearms, were seized in the Columbus area last year, according to the report.
Since a Bartholomew County deputy works exclusively on a full-time basis with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Indianapolis, JNET’s influence has reached as far as the U.S. West Coast and Mexico.
The deputy is assigned to a task force that indicted 85 individuals last year, as well as seized more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine, 20 pounds of heroin, the same amount of cocaine, and more than 200 illegal firearms, according to the report.
But beside the criminals, deputies are also tending more to local victims of the national opioid crisis.
Throughout last year, deputies administered 35 doses of the antidote Naloxone. While those doses are believed to have saved 21 lives, 30 deaths last year in Bartholomew County were confirmed as opiate overdoses, according to the annual report.
That’s an increase of 150 percent from the 12 opioid-related drug overdose deaths reported in 2016.
Property crime
Although most property crime is indirectly linked to the use of narcotics, 73 percent of the arrests made by local deputies last year had no direct link to drugs, the report said.
Compared to the previous year, the 647 property crimes reported last year represented an 11 percent increase. Within the property crime category:
Total thefts increased 15 percent, from 377 in 2016 to 432 last year.
Auto thefts increased up 54 percent, from 50 in 2016 to 77 last year.
Robberies increased from two in 2016 to seven last year.
Burglaries dropped 11 percent, from 155 in 2016 to 138 last year.
The total number of arrests increased 10 percent, from 1,772 in 2016 to 1,954 last year.
That is largely the result of more residents reporting suspicious behavior, Myers aid in the report.
Calls for help
One of the most significant year-over-year statistical changes involves requests for extra patrols. The 6,943 requests made last year represent a 212 percent increase from 2016. In total, there were 41,541 calls for service in 2017, up 22 percent from the previous year.
Both increases were partially the result of the Bartholomew County Council’s decision to hire two civilian civil process servers in 2016, the report states.
That decision reduced the amount of time deputies spent serving civil papers, which allows them to devote more time on conventional law-enforcement matters, the report states.
After the council agreed last fall to hire three new road patrol deputies in 2018, Myers and his staff expressed optimism that more manpower would translate into a reduction in crime.
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Here are key statistics from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department annual report.
Years;2015;2016;2017
Total arrests;1,698;1,772;1,954
Drug arrests;382;392;521
Property crime arrests;582;582;647
Traffic stops;4,981;5,662;7,323
Calls for service;34,272;34,033;41,541
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