Statistics from the Athens Police Department’s annual report show the department saw an increase in calls for service for rape, nuisance party violations and suicide.
The Athens Police Department received 11,843 calls for service in 2016, an increase from 10,972 in 2015. The department averaged 11,262 calls for service a year from 2004 to 2016. A call for service is a police term for any situation to which an officer responds. Calls for service are not necessarily phone calls the department receives, and some calls for service are officer-initiated.
According to the annual report, APD responded to 40 rape-related calls for service in 2016. The data in the annual report show rape reports have doubled over the past five years.
APD received 33 reports in 2015, 26 in 2014 and 18 in 2013. The average number of rape reports the department received over the past 12 years was 21, according to the report.
The increase in reports doesn’t necessarily mean incidents of rape have increased. As local police have previously said, the increase in reports could indicate more rape survivors feel comfortable coming forward.
APD made no arrests for rape in 2015 or 2016. Over the past 12 years, the department has arrested six people for rape, according to the annual report.
The report stated a high-profile serial rape case from January 2016 remains unsolved. APD Chief Tom Pyle announced in a Jan. 28 press conference that year that DNA evidence had linked three sexual assaults against college-aged women in Uptown Athens. APD received 80 tips related to the incidents in less than a month.
Calls for service regarding nuisance parties have increased dramatically in recent years. APD received 130 in 2016, up from 99 in 2015 and well above the department’s 12-year average of 32. For the years 2004-2008, nuisance party calls averaged about five per year.
Nuisance party violations are violations of an Athens ordinance that empowers police to shut down parties where "nuisance" behaviors such as littering, providing alcohol to underage drinkers or public urination take place.
However, APD made only slightly more alcohol-related arrests in 2016 than 2015, and made far fewer than it had ten years ago. APD made 391 alcohol-related arrests in 2016, 365 in 2015, and averaged 621 a year for the past 12 years. Alcohol-related arrests appeared to peak at 1,257 in 2006, over three times the 2016 arrest rate.
APD saw an increase in calls about suicides and suicide attempts, as well as requests for officers to check on a person's wellbeing. Calls about suicides and suicide attempts increased from 48 in 2015 to 78 in 2016. Wellbeing checks on people increased from 109 in 2015 to 150 in 2016. APD’s 12-year average for wellbeing checks is 81.
Calls for service regarding robberies, trespassing, fights and vehicle thefts all increased from 2015 to 2016.
The annual report mentions that the Athens-area faces an “ever-increasing opiate epidemic,” but calls for service regarding narcotics in 2016 remained below the 12-year average. The average is 109, and APD received 94 in 2016.
In 2016, APD worked to address a staffing shortage, according to the annual report. The department has hired five new people, including three new patrol officers. However, only two of the five new hires have completed enough training to operate on their own. The department has one remaining patrol officer position open.
The department’s 2017 goals include achieving full staffing, continuing compliance with the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board standards and considering deploying body cameras for patrol officers.
