APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Appleton Police are reflecting on the events of 2019, and are looking ahead to more advanced metrics and planning in 2020.
The general crime rate in Appleton seemed to dip slightly in 2019, despite a number of more serious cases drawing a bit of attention. Police Chief Todd Thomas is optimistic after seeing a continued drop in property crimes once again in 2019.
“Burglaries, shoplifting, and thefts are something that we’ve seen a trend line going down since 2007-2008. It continues to trend down to the lowest levels we’ve seen in the past 30 years,” Thomas says.
But violent crimes like assaults, robberies, and even homicides this past year have attributed to a leveling off of numbers in that category over the past 6-8 years.
“Our numbers are so low that any minor change causes a big fluctuation in percentages. That’s something that we’re monitoring,” Thomas tells WTAQ News.
The department is using a lethality assessment tool and an officer designated as a liaison for the Harbor House and survivors of domestic violence. The goal of having that officer is to prevent future offenses against those victims and to build solid cases against the offenders.
“If you start drilling down into the numbers, you’ll see that a majority, over half of our aggravated assaults are domestic-related,” Thomas says, “we’ve really started to focus on prevention of that.”
Appleton Police are also pushing for a proactive approach when it comes to robberies and sexual assault. Officers provide education for stores and businesses to better protect themselves against robberies and to “harden the target.” Thomas urges sexual assault victims to report the incidents as soon as they can. That helps police begin aggressive investigations against perpetrators and try to minimize the number of people that offenders may victimize.
As the years turn to a new decade, new technology continues to move to the forefront as well. The Appleton Police Department has also recently adopted a new program to track information, and there are hopes to increase its usage and impact on the community.
“We’ve got a new records management system. We’re starting to use the data analysis tools in that program so we can identify which areas we maybe have more assaults in and which area we have more traffic crashes in – then using that tool to apply our resources in the right areas,” Thomas says.
He compares the system to a high-tech version of the traditional method of sticking pins in a map with a few extra, and useful, bells and whistles to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
However, even with the technology and system upgrades, police still need help from the public to prevent and solve crimes.
“You’re our eyes and ears out there. We can’t solve a problem if we don’t know about it. I encourage people to continue to be involved with law enforcement and to even meet the officers,” Thomas says, “that’s one of the things we really want to focus on – is getting out there into the community.”
Thomas hopes people will do what they can to help and familiarize themselves with officers around town. And as always, if you see something, say something.
