GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed the world for everybody, and that includes the police.
In Green Bay, calls for service are down, but there’s been an uptick in certain types of crime, including graffiti.
“We’ve received 32 complaints since [mid-March],” said Police Commander Kevin Warych. “12 of those…were reported between March 14th and March 15th.”
Several of the reported graffiti tags read “COVID-19 is a lie”, leading police to think some perpetrators are behind multiple incidents.
Two juveniles were arrested on Thursday in connection with some graffiti reports.
A number of area businesses have been impacted, but Warych says specific businesses are not being targeted.
“We’re seeing a surge in some crimes, but a decrease in others,” “It’s not fair to say crime is either up or down.”
There have been three homicides in Green Bay over the past three months, but Warych says it’s hard to attribute that to the pandemic. Police have been busy, in part due to enforcing the Governor’s Safer at Home order.
“We keep seeing an influx of complaints coming in from the Governor’s ‘Safer at Home’ order,” Warych told WTAQ. “We’re taking those complaints and investigating them.”
Police are typically issuing warnings when called out for first-time gathering violations.
