Police Chief Says Traffic Crashes Surprised Him

The number of automobile crashes on public roads in Archbold fell almost 38% between 2007 and 2008.

That's what Martin Schmidt, Archbold police chief, found most significant in his year-end reports.

There were 79 accidents on public roads in 2007; last year the number fell to 49, a decline of 30.

Schmidt said with the economy in a downturn, traffic on roadways also was down.

Also down was the number of injury accidents within the village, from 14 in 2007 to 6 in 2008, a decline of about 57%

The number of accidents on private property such as parking lots increased by 50%, from 58 to 87.

Schmidt said in many cases, it's hard to tell whether a statistic is significant or not.

For example, requests for service by members of the public went from 2,027 in 2007 to 1,787 in 2008, a decline of 240, or about 12%.

With employment down in local factories and businesses, there are fewer people in town, which could translate into fewer service calls.

Offense Reports

Offense reports are down, from 474 to 453, a drop of about 4.4%. The figure is a six-year low. The number of offense reports peaked in 2004 at 612.

The number of persons charged with offenses dropped from 142 to 116, a decline of about 18%.

The number of adults charged remained the same, at 18; but the number of juveniles fell by about 21%, from 124 to 98.

Traffic

During 2008, Archbold police officers made more traffic stops, but issued citations to fewer persons and gave more warnings.

The number of traffic stops hit a three-year high, at 743, up about 7% from 2007.

The number of persons who received citations dropped from 143 to 129, a decline of about 10%. Also down was the actual number of citations, 287 to 234, a drop of about 18.5%.

Warnings increased by almost 14%, from 534 to 608, a four-year high.

The number of arrests from traffic stops was down from 16 to 6, a drop of 62.5%.

Most of the arrests from traffi c stops are related to drinking and driving.

The decline in that statistic "is nice to see," Schmidt said.

Currently, the police department has eight full-time offi- cers. The department trimmed one full-time officer from its payroll about three years ago, Schmidt said.

There are now three parttime officers.