By GLEN WERLING
The numbers of incidents officers of the Ossian Police Department responded to declined in 2021 from 2020.
That was the message delivered by Ossian Police Chief Dave Rigney to members of the Ossian Board of Metropolitan Police Commissioners during a regular meeting of the board Tuesday night.
Officers responded to 2,003 incidents in 2021 compared to 2,115 in 2020 and 2,033 in 2019.
COVID might have been a big reason for the decline. People were stuck in their homes for much of 2020 because of the virus, while in 2021 many of the restrictions had been lifted, Rigney observed.
Second shift officer Russell Mounsey far and away handled the most incidents in 2021, responding to 829 calls compared to 358 by Officer Brian McClish, who finished in second place. Sgt. Stephanie Tucker responded to 339 and Rigney responded to 335.
Rigney said that second shift historically has had the most calls because it spans the after work/school period for most people.
Because of that, Mounsey also performed the most traffic stops of any officer. People are in a hurry to get home from work/school, Rigney pointed out.
Mounsey performed 304 traffic stops compared to McClish’s 166. Rigney had 43 and Tucker 25.
Mounsey issued 106 tickets to 198 warnings. McClish issued 13 tickets compared to 153 warnings. Tucker issued 10 tickets and 15 warnings and Rigney issued six tickets and 37 warnings.
The ratio of tickets to warnings total for the department was 25 percent tickets and 75 percent warnings.
“I’m OK with that,” Rigney said. “We don’t write citations to punish people. We want to give them the opportunity to become better drivers.”
The people who get the tickets tend to be the ones who are repeat offenders — the ones who didn’t learn their lesson after having been stopped and warned before.
Regarding violent crime, not surprisingly Ossian didn’t have much — although there was a shooting in the parking lot of Berne Apparel that resulted in the victim being seriously injured.
During the year officers responded to four assaults, one child abuse case, 15 domestic disturbances, two burglaries, three criminal mischief calls, eight disorderly conduct calls, six cases of people scammed out of money, 18 intoxicated drivers, 14 civil disputes, 28 thefts of property, one auto theft, six vandalisms, eight calls where someone threatened another person, two sex offenses, 65 suspicious activity calls, and served eight warrants on people wanted for crimes.
There were also 99 driving complaints, 612 driving offenses, 86 people who had locked themselves out of their vehicles, 43 problems involving juveniles and 71 animal problems.
The department was also asked to assist other agencies — including Wells County EMS and Wells County Sheriff’s Office — 398 times.
Rigney said that one statistic that interested him was that citizen assist calls were down to 40 compared to 86 in 2020. It was the lowest number of citizen assist calls since 2013.
“Apparently people are finding different ways to get help,” Rigney observed.
There were 59 traffic accidents investigated by Ossian officers in 2021 compared to 44 in 2020. Again, less travel because of COVID-19 may have been the reason.
The eight accidents involving people being injured however broke a long skein in which the town had gone without an accident with injury. In 2015 there were also eight traffic accidents in which someone was injured.
The department assisted 22 motorists and fielded four complaints about solicitors.
Twelve calls were for substance abuse problems compared to 13 in 2020.
The department paid out $12,418.11 in overtime pay in 2021. That was less than 2020 when $16,917.87 was paid.
The department paid $11,921.69 for gas in 2021 compared to $8,514.46 in 2020.
“This will only get worse in 2022,” Rigney predicted.
To back up that assertion, he pointed out that the department spent $1,361.84 for gas between Jan. 16 and Feb. 15. The monthly fuel budget for the department is $1,166.67.
Department officers also completed 315 hours of training in 2021. Mounsey performed the most at 123 hours. Tucker was next at 96. Rigney performed 46 hours of training, McClish 24 hours and part-time officer Dennis Fiscus performed 26 hours of training. The department minimum is 24 hours.
Regarding the part-time officers, Patrick Piper, an officer with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, worked the most at 379.5. Fiscus was second at 268 and Larry Butler, also a deputy with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office was 226.5, bringing the total number of hours worked by part-time officers to 874 hours.
In addition to his annual report, during his monthly report, Rigney reported that his officers logged just 8.25 hours of overtime between Jan. 23 and Feb. 19. McClish led the overtime hours at seven, new hire Evan Holliday had 5, Mounsey one and Tucker recorded 15 minutes of overtime. Tucker also reported that new part-time officer Nick White has successfully completed his second qualification and Holliday is on track to graduate from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in April.
White is still in the first phase of field training, Tucker informed board members Caleb Chichester, Bob Miller and Stan Reed and liaison Jeff Kemper.
Chichester plans to meet with Ossian Town Council member Dennis Ealing to discuss details of the proposed pay matrix for officers and Tucker plans to speak with Town Manager Luann Martin regarding an addition to the officers’ clothing allowance to pay for wireless microphones for their uniforms.
glenw@news-banner.com
