Fewer calls

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
Officers with the Newcastle Police Department answered a total of 4,387 calls for service in 2018, down 230 calls from 2017, according to Chief Jim Owens. 
“Everything is pretty much the same. The biggest variance and reason why the numbers are down, at least a portion of it, is based on traffic contacts,” Owens said. “We didn’t have as many officers on the streets, so there were not as many traffic contacts as in the past.” 
Owens provided a breakdown of all calls for service received by Newcastle Dispatch and handled by officers to the City Council at its Jan. 7 regular meeting. He noted that just because a call is labeled as something doesn’t necessarily mean that is what it actually was. 
Owens said that calls are categorized by how they first come into dispatch and not necessarily how they turn out. He told the council that although the report shows several residential, business and vehicle burglaries, there were not actually any real burglaries in 2018. 
“The reports ended up being trespasses or alarms going off. Someone said they were missing something and they were sure it was burglarized, and they later found it,” Owens said. 
So what kinds of offenses do officers actually see? 
“We are seeing a lot of drugs; we always see a lot of drugs. It is primarily meth and marijuana, and those numbers are similar to 2017,” Owens said. “If you go back to 2014, 2015 and 2016, you will see primarily diversion of prescriptions.” 
According to the report, the department handled three calls for drug possession, one for drug distribution, three for drug paraphernalia, one for someone under the influence of a controlled substance and 134 calls for narcotic information. 
Officers also responded to 34 domestic problem calls, 129 animals at large, 293 door checks, 39 DUI reports, and 59 suspicious person reports. 
The most significant number of calls for service was traffic stops. A total of 1,022 traffic stop calls were made in the 2018 calendar year. 
While he doesn’t necessarily expect an increase in calls for 2019, Owens said, he does anticipate a higher conviction rate than in previous years. 
“I am hoping to see higher prosecution. We have already seen more court cases this year than in the past,” Owens said. “I think the conviction rate is going to increase, but things are actually going to court. Things are starting to get resolved; cases are getting resolved instead of just pending.” 
All in all, Newcastle is a nice, quiet little town, according to Owens. 
“We have our issues but probably not so much as any other place,” Owens said.