PDF: CPD report
Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble says a quicker response time by his deputies is one of the main reasons for a 12 percent decrease in crime from 2008 to 2009.
“We have doubled the number of patrol officers at any given time,” Sheriff Gobble said. “We’re getting deputies out of the office and into the field.”
While the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation releases its crime statistics for each county later in the year, the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office’s preliminary numbers show the number of crimes handled by the department was down last year in most of the major categories.
Vandalism fell by 26 percent from 2008 and vehicle theft fell by 18 percent, the report shows. Major crimes, including rape, were down 17 percent from last year, and no homicides were reported by the sheriff’s office. Aggravated assaults increased by 7 percent.
The county statistics do not include crimes that occurred in the city limits of Cleveland and were handled by the Cleveland Police Department, which has not released its figures for 2009.
When Sheriff Gobble took office in 2006, he began to reorganize the patrolling of the county’s 333,000 square miles, trying to better use his staff, he said. The department went from having four to five deputies a shift to a minimum of nine deputies who respond to emergency calls at any time, he said.
Also, after separating the county into four major patrol areas, he was able to produce quicker response times — from 11 minutes to about six minutes 50 seconds in an emergency, Sheriff Gobble said.
“We haven’t been allotted any additional people,” he said. “We’re just using our people more effectively.”
Lillie Vines, a block leader for the neighborhood watch program in Sabrina Drive, said that, in the past, she rarely saw any deputies in her area, but that has improved this year.
“If we call and tell them to come out, they do,” said Ms. Vines, who lives just north of the Waterville Golf Course. “It (has) gotten a lot better.”
One thing the neighborhood watch participants appreciate is the sheriff’s office’s talking with residents and just having a presence in the area, she said.
In the sheriff’s office, Sgt. Yvonne Johnson sets up watch programs and monitors their needs. Her main job is to jump-start the programs, then allow them to function independently until a concern is raised, Sgt. Johnson said.
She said she tries to visit each neighborhood watch program during the year and teach residents how to spot certain crimes.
In his report, Sheriff Gobble also highlighted the overall crime clearance rate. While the national average for clearing cases is 33 percent, the sheriff’s office had a 55 percent clearance rate, the report shows.
Sometimes clearance rates are not a positive representation of an agency if the cases are not solved accurately, but in Bradley County most cases are, said 10th District Attorney Steve Bebb.
“We find (the deputies) are hard working and generally do a good job,” said Mr. Bebb, whose district covers Bradley, McMinn, Monroe and Polk counties.
“It’s nice to get Bradley cases because we know it’s going to be solid,” he said.