The Dunwoody Police Department reported a drop in violent crime from 2018 to 2019, though officers gave out thousands more citations and arrested more people.
Officers reported 2,038 serious crimes last year, which include murder, aggravated assault, rape, robbery, arson, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft, according to the department's annual report released this week. That's down 4.6% from 2018, when 2,137 serious crimes were reported.
Chief Billy Grogan said the reported drop may be due to a mandated switch in reporting procedures from the Uniform Crime Reporting system to the National Incident Based Reporting System. Studies have shown that the new type of crime classifications in the new system could lead to a slight drop in how some violent crimes are reported.
While the number of serious crimes dipped, the number of citations doled out by Dunwoody officers jumped 55%, from 7,906 in 2018 to 12,246 in 2019. The report does not offer a possible explanation for the increase, though last year was the first full year that the state’s hands-free driving law was in effect.
Dunwoody police put an extra focus on enforcing the new law last year, leading several targeted traffic enforcement details that resulted in dozens of drivers being ticketed for violating the hands-free provision.
The city also saw a 21.6% rise in vehicle thefts, with 118 reported last year, and a 7% increase in burglaries, with 169 in 2019. The total number of arrests saw a 10% uptick last year, with about 2,200 people taken to jail.
The police reported 70 use-of-force incidents in Dunwoody last year, a 33.3% drop from the 105 incidents in 2018. Use-of-force incidents include using physical force or the display or firing of a gun or Taser.
The department received one complaint of an officer using excessive force, which was investigated and determined to be unfounded, according to the annual report. Eight complaints were filed against 12 officers last year. Only one of the complaints, which involved an officer speeding, was sustained.
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