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Chief: Violent crime low in Marshalltown

Annual police report shows ‘good news’

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper presented the 2017 annual MPD report to the Marshalltown City Council earlier this week. The report shows over 31,000 calls for service were made, along with almost 2,400 arrests. T-R FILE PHOTO - Tupper said the police department has worked hard to increase community outreach in recent years. He said making connections with the public helps officers do their job more effectively.

Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper said he’s encouraged by the 2017 police department report released this week.

The Marshalltown Police Department fielded more than 31,000 calls last year, thousands more than in 2016. Officers made more arrests and traffic stops in 2017, too.

“One thing I’d like to point out is we put a lot of effort into our training,” Tupper said. “Our use of force incidents went down dramatically.”

According to the report, MPD officers used force in their duties 57 times in 2017, down from 76 in 2016. The report defines different levels of force officers can potentially use during a given incident as “verbal direction, physical re-direction, empty hand control, intermediate weapons to lethal force.”

Tupper said the lower number of use-of-force incidents came despite officers responding to many more calls last year.

“We’re making a lot of efforts with our training and with our de-escalation and crisis intervention and I think that’s paying off,” he said.

There were four fewer taser uses in 2017 compared to 2016 and five fewer assaults on officers.

The amount of illegal drugs seized by MPD officers also went up last year. The amount of cocaine seized increased by about 18 grams, heroin by 120 grams and marijuana by 1,669 grams compared to 2016. There were 34 more prescription pills seized as well.

Tupper had positive words regarding violent crime rates in the city.

“Violent crime in Marshalltown is low, contrary to rumor and myth … we don’t have a lot of violent crime in Marshalltown,” he said. “We do have a decent amount of property crime, though, and a decent amount of crimes related to drugs and both of those issues are connected.”

Criminal activity related to drugs can drive property crime, Tupper said. He said the department devotes a lot of resources to addressing those areas of crime in Marshalltown.

Other areas Tupper said the department is working to address are family violence, sex crimes and child abuse.

“Those are issues in every community and we devote a lot of resources to those two issues as well,” he said.

Traffic stops, building checks and follow-ups were the top three types of calls for service officers fielded last year, according to the report. Other frequent types of calls included public contact, theft and Iowa Veterans Home checks.

Among the least frequent types of calls were stalking, vehicle inspections, robberies and death investigations. The department responded to zero calls for service regarding forgery, according to the report.

Tupper and Marshalltown Mayor Joel Greer said the department has strong community connections.

“One example for the community support is the Vests for the Best program,” Greer said.

He said the program recently achieved its $75,000 fundraising target to provide area emergency responders with protective vests.

Tupper said he’s proud of the MPD’s community outreach efforts.

“We usually do three or four things every week that are related to community outreach,” he said. “Our body camera program is going strong, we’re approaching two years with that program.”

At-large Councilor Bill Martin was curious about long-term plans for the body cameras used at MPD.

“How are we doing with our record storage, data storage?” he asked.

Tupper said there are no issues with storage in the short-term.

“That’s something we have to watch long-term,” he said. “We’re keeping every video for a minimum of 180 days.”

Tupper said videos of high-profile incidents can be kept longer.

Strong community relationships help police do their job more effectively, he said.

“We can’t be everywhere at once and in order to make a true impact on crime and a true impact on solving problems in our community, we have to have those partnerships with the community,” Tupper said.

He said the overall 2017 report shows good news for Marshalltown.

“We’re seeing reductions in crime and I’m very proud of the work that our men and women in the police department are doing,” Tupper said. “We really appreciate the support we have in our community for law enforcement, for public safety.”

To view the entire 2017 report and reports from previous years, visit https://www.marshalltown-ia.gov/Archive.aspx?AMID=37

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Contact Adam Sodders at (641) 753-6611 or asodders@timesrepublican.com

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