Evansville PD Reports 209% Increase in Controlled Substance Cases, 75% Increase in DUIs for 2021

The numbers don't lie.

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Chief Mike Thompson with the Evansville Police Department took to social media to offer the community an update on what the Department has been doing over the last year. The numbers he reported were interesting, and telling.

"In looking back at 2021, the department had 7,118 calls generated," Thompson wrote. "About 50% is traffic related. The break down is 9.3 calls a day not traffic related and 10.6 traffic stops per day."

Thompson explained that "service" calls take up much of the dispatch's time. These called include theft calls, domestic calls, and crashes.

Then, things get interesting.

"Last year, there was a 209% increase in controlled substance cases and no, they were not all marijuana related. There was a 75% [increase] in DUIs, 201% [increase] in property thefts, and 117% [increase] in ATL (attempts to locate)."

Chief Mike Thompson told K2 Radio News that the increase in these cases is due to officer proactivity.

"I push my officers to be proactive in finding drugs and detecting DUI's," he stated. "That is probably about 60% of the increase in these categories, along with calls to motels for suspected drug use.  There are certain categories [of crime] that that agencies have to report to the FBI; they use to be called UCRs but they are changing it to NIBERs. When looking at the report comparisons, the majority of UCR/NIBER categories saw reductions from the year prior, outside of about 7 or so."

He continued, stating that, "The proactivity of the officers does increase some categories, such as drugs, DUIs, and traffic, but it helps drive the others down."

Chief Thompson also said that while Marijuana is still the primary substance that cases are made up of, it's far from the only one.

"Meth is the next prevalent drug to marijuana," he said. "Meth is much cheaper now than it was 5 years ago. You can go to Colorado and get it for probably 2/3 less money."

Chief Thompson wrote that the busiest hours for the department are from 7pm-9pm, and their busiest days are Tuesdays and Fridays.

He also compared today to pre-COVID times, saying that there wa a 17.3% increase in calls to the officers.

Thompson said he gathered all of this data via a CAD program.

"The CAD program we use for reports has a mechanism built into it where it compares the report categories to whatever designation I put into it."

Thompson wrote that "The officers with the Evansville Police Department work hard to keep the community safe. If you have any questions, please come see the Chief. The door is always open."