Photo by Mike Wolanin | The Republic A Columbus Police Department squad vehicle with new updated vehicle wrap.
Columbus police saw a large increase in calls last year, while arrests ticked up and property crime declined to its lowest level in at least five years, according to the police department’s annual report.
The report, which was released this week, shows that Columbus police responded to 64,096 calls in 2023 — an increase of about 12,000 from the previous year, or an 18% increase.
Officials attributed the increased number of calls to officer proactivity, the public’s willingness to report crimes and suspicious incidents, as well as more people being out in the community as the pandemic faded.
In total, CPD made 1,288 arrests last year, up slightly from 1,271 the year before, according to the report. Drug-related offenses accounted for nearly 1 in 4 arrests last year, up from around 1 in 5 arrests in 2022. CPD investigated one homicide in 2023, down from two homicide investigations the previous year.
“As we come to another end of another year, I am honored to reflect on the progress and accomplishments of the Columbus Police Department,” said CPD Chief Mike Richardson, who plans to retire at the beginning of June and become the city’s first Director of Security and Risk. “It is with great pride that I present our year-end report, summarizing the efforts of our officers, staff and the unwavering support from the Columbus community.”
Property crime
Last year, property crime declined to its lowest level in at least five years, the report states. There were a total of 675 reports of property crime in Columbus last year, down from 863 in 2022 and 1,282 in 2019.
Most of the property crime in the city was classified as theft, which accounted for roughly 4 in 5 reports of property crime, followed by burglary and vehicle theft, each representing about 9.5% of all property crime.
“We were certainly pleased to see that trending in the right direction,” said CPD spokesman Lt. Matt Harris. “And I think a lot of that has to do with getting the message out to the community about removing valuables from their vehicles, locking car doors, because that’s 95% of our property crime.”
CPD also attributed the decline in property crime, in part, to efforts by the department’s Intelligence Led Policing Unit, which received more than 2,500 leads and tips last year.
The unit, which includes three Columbus police officers, one Bartholomew County Sheriff deputy and one civilian criminal intelligence analyst, also made 29 criminal arrests last year and assisted with 66 others, the report states.
Harris also credited the community for “taking action to limit those crimes of opportunity” and members of the unit who followed up on tips from the public and focused on repeat offenders.
“It’s just all those things,” Harris said.
Drug-related investigations
The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team, or JNET, investigated fewer cases last year but search warrants nearly doubled, according to the department’s 2023 and 2022 reports.
JNET includes Columbus police officers, Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies and a Bartholomew County deputy prosecutor. The team seeks to unite local efforts to pursue drug dealers in the community with collaboration among the police departments and the prosecutor’s office.
The team also partnered at times with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other federal agencies.
Last year, JNET investigated 115 drug-related cases, down from 195 in 2022, the reports state. Of last year’s cases, 43 involved dealing methamphetamine, 18 were for dealing fentanyl, as well as a few cases involving cocaine dealing, a violent felon in possession of a handgun and drug dealing resulting in death.
The unit also seized more than five times more fentanyl in 2023 than in 2022, including 700 counterfeit oxycodone 30mg pills that contained fentanyl.
At the same time, JNET was granted 91 search warrants last year, up from 55 the previous year, according to the department’s 2023 and 2022 annual reports.
Harris said the increase was due to the nature of the investigations that JNET conducted last year. The annual report states that many of JNET’s cases in 2023 involved investigations alongside federal law enforcement agencies, including one case that involved serving four search warrants in Bartholomew County, resulting in six arrests and the seizure of several pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl, as well as more than 10 firearms.
“We want to make sure that our officers and investigators are building strong cases, and I think that goes to show the increased number of warrants,” Harris said.
In addition, CPD and Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies responded to 160 reports of drug overdoses and administered naloxone on about 90 of those calls.
About 65 of the reported overdoses were due to fentanyl or heroin, the report states.
However, overdoses deaths declined last year. There were 25 fatal overdoses in the county last year, down from a record 39 in 2022 and the lowest annual total since 2019, when there were 24 fatal overdoses.
New gear and training
CPD also upgraded several pieces of equipment last year, including outfitting officers with new body-worn cameras and patrol cars with cameras with license plate reading technology.
Additionally, CPD supervisors were issued ballistic shields to allow for additional protection when responding to dangerous calls where weapons are involved.
Patrol officers also were equipped with new less-lethal launchers that use sponge rounds that police say are more accurate at longer distances and less likely to cause penetrating injuries than the bean bag rounds that CPD was previously using.
The new less-lethal launcher has already been used to help subdue a man who was armed with a knife, the report states.
CPD officers also competed over 11,778 hours of training, an average of around 140 hours per officer, including trainings on firearms, de-escalation, mental health, hate crime, among other topics.
Harris, for his part, said 2023 was a busy year, with “just so much going on.”
“It’s so much more than just statistics and figures,” Harris said, reflecting on 2023. “…(In the report) we kind of hit upon the high points and the ones that we though the community would be interested in.”
“There’s just so much going on,” Harris added. “…We try to share as much information with the public as we can.”
