It probably comes as no surprise if you keep up with the news that overall crime in the city of Hopkinsville has increased this year when compared to the first three quarters of 2020, but a bigger problem for the Hopkinsville Police Department may be staffing.
The Hopkinsville Police Department and Emergency Communications Center are “struggling to fill positions” in the words of Hopkinsville Police Deputy Chief Mike Seis. He made the comments when presenting the 3rd quarter report at Thursday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting. He said the police department has a dozen vacant officer positions.
click to download audioIn addition to the problems with filling vacant police officer positions, Seis said they are having a harder time hiring 911 dispatchers.
click to download audioDeputy Chief Seis added in order to prevent this from becoming an ongoing problem at Dispatch, they are looking at hiring part-time receptionists to answer non-emergency calls.
click to download audioAs far as crime across the city, he said the 3rd quarter overall crime comparisons from July 1st to September 30 of this year are slightly down — a total of 559 compared to 563 for this same period in 2020. However, violent crimes of aggravated assault doubled for this past quarter with 26 total reports compared to 13 total in the 3rd quarter of last year. The data also shows the year-to-date overall reported crime comparisons are up slightly to 1,589 from 1,558 in 2020.
click to download audioIn addition, the number of collisions in the city was up from 204 for the 3rd quarter of 2020 compared to 274 during this same time period this year. The overall year-to-date is also showing an increase of crashes – 732 compared to 588 in 2020.
He also shared some good news — the police department signed up for the Military to Law Enforcement program for soldiers transitioning out of the military and wanting to go into law enforcement.
click to download audioThe other good news, Seis said is the police department has received a $250,000 grant for a rescue vehicle and they are in the process of meeting with Chief Financial Officer Robert Martin to arrange the funds in order to make the purchase.
