Holiday crimes not unique

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Area law enforcement officials said they really don’t see any difference in the types of crimes committed during the holiday season.

“It’s apparent that the type of work we do doesn’t take a break during the holidays,” said Captain Adam Moore, spokesperson, Delaware Police Department. “Our citizens need us 365 days a year. The Delaware police don’t take a break during the holidays.”

According to the City of Delaware’s website, the police department is the primary contact for emergency and non-emergency service for the city with an annual 70,000 estimated calls.

Moore reviewed statistics for the past three years. He said that between Christmas and New Year’s Day officers respond to the same wide range of incidents as during the rest of the year, including assaults and thefts.

The only holiday-specific kind of crimes maybe seen by the police department are “stolen Christmas presents, which can only happen at Christmas,” he said.

“And with all the holiday parties we run into people that are having too much fun and decide to drive.”

Major Dave Wiseman, spokesperson of the Delaware County Sheriff’s office, said Tuesday the weather dictates the type and number of incidents the that department handles between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Wiseman said the weather can play a role. “Weather dictates the related issues of theft; if it’s cold, nobody wants to go out,” he said. “If it’s snowing, we see more car crashes.”

According to the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association, in 2015 Delaware County Sheriff’s office received 34,919 incoming calls, 6,335 of the calls were incident or offense reports, 499 vehicle crash reports taken, 740 vehicle crash assists to other agencies and 3,961 bookings at the Delaware County jail.

The Ohio Highway Patrol’s Delaware post has made 14,537 enforcement stops so far in 2016, and 13,398 in 2015.

Of that total the Delaware post has recorded 59 felony arrests this year as compared with 63 in 2015, 214 drug violations in 2016 compared with 172 in 2015, 12 resisting arrest violations in 2016 compared with 11 in 2015, 415 OVI enforcements in 2016 compared with 415 in 2015 and 1,911 crash investigations in 2016 compared with 1,922 in 2015.

By D. Anthony Botkin

[email protected]

D. Anthony Botkin may be reached at 740-413-0902 or on Twitter @dabotkin.

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