Salem Police Chief Kyle Ambuehl says the department continued to see a growth in call volume in 2023, answering 17,602 police calls with the 911 dispatch center answering an additional 3,721 calls for fire and EMS.
Ambuehl says one of the more noticeable increases was for domestic issues, with domestic calls increasing 37 to 407 and domestic battery cases increasing from nine to 20.
“The citizens when they start having issues are more apt to call us now. We put it out there if they have problems that is the avenue rather than trying to handle some things on their own. I also think we live in a time right now what you see in the news national and state level, it’s a little harder for some people to get along. I think it’s becoming our nature that people are at odds more often than not.”
Ambuehl says the good news is residential burglaries fell from 10 to four cases and other burglaries were down four cases to 26. Both felony and misdemeanor thefts were also down. He’s crediting the push to community patrols and being seen in the neighborhoods, which will be a priority again in the coming year.
At the same time, they are receiving more requests for extra patrols of businesses and residences which increased 250 requests to 728. Ambuehl is encouraging those calls.
“If they are having problems in their neighborhoods or seeing things, that’s how we sometimes learn there is a problem in a certain area. Give us a call we will do the extra patrols, and do business checks for businesses in town and encourage them to call us when they see something so we can make those adjustments in our patrols.”
Retail theft declined two cases to 91. Fraud remained an issue, jumping four cases to 98. Criminal damage complaints rose from 15 cases to 85. Sex cases saw an increase. Criminal Sexual Abuse increased from 4 to 7 cases and criminal sexual assault from 12 to 14.
The department handled 299 traffic crashes in 2023, down 13 from the prior year. 1799 traffic citations were issued.
Salem Police made a total of 391 arrests, including 372 adults and 19 juveniles.
One unwelcome statistic was the growth in 911 hang-ups or misdials. 195 more of those calls were reported in 2023 to a total of 859. Ambuehl says while some are accidental he is concerned with the number who call 911 for general information when they don’t know the department’s non-emergency number which is (618) 548-2232.
