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If Wheeling City Council approves the police chief's proposed 2017-18 budget, there will be a new crime analyst in town.
According to Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger, a steady and significant increase in illicit drug use and overdoses has spurred him to request the new employee, in order to help officers determine additional, effective targets for crime prevention.
Last year, the department recorded 95 overdose incidents as well as three overdose deaths among its 22,584 calls for service. That's an increase of 59 percent from last year's 57 overdoses and one overdose death, among the total 23,046 calls for service.
The analyst position would cost the city $36,000 annual for an entry-level police officer for the position. It comes with additional costs for software, from $12,000 to $15,000.
The overdose statistics are among the department's crime statistics released this morning. The statistics review the calls for service for the year, including those called in by residents, as well as traffic stops and crimes or instances police might call in and look into while patroling.
Some calls for service in 2016 were made by the Ohio County Sheriff's Office, as well, said police spokesman Philip Stahl.
Also increasing were some of the more serious crimes, including assaults, burglaries, vandalisms, larcenies and robberies. Schwertfeger said he believes many of those property crimes -- larcenies and burglaries -- are increased because they are related to increases in drug abuse.
"They steal so that they can fund their habit," Schwertfeger said, noting that this year marks the first in his four years in the department that property crimes have increased.
Also in 2016, driving under the influence and drunkenness calls decreased by 55 percent, Schwertfeger said.
"We haven't had that (decrease) because people have come to the conclusion they are not going to drink and drive," Schwertfeger said.
Rather, he attributes the lower numbers to a decreased number of officers he has on the street due to vacancies, and a low staffing allowance. He said it's likely that a drunk person, if not quickly attended to by police, will end up committing one of the more serious crimes.
To address these issues, also in his proposed budget, Schwertfeger has requested three additional officers. "It would be easier to justify that if we were fully staffed," he said, noting that it's difficult to fill vacancies. For example, someone could retire today, and it would take nine months to replace them, he said.
Also among the statistics police released, in 2016, among the calls for service, there were 3,020 assigned cased compared to 2,906 in 2015.
In 2016, the department made 689 arrests compared to 845 arrests in 2015. Police issued 2,062 traffic citations in 2016 compared to 2,456 citations in 2015.
Officers issued 350 criminal citations in 2016, up from 313 citations in 2015. Police handled 1,216 vehicle crashes in 2016 compared to 1,323 crashes in 2015.