News Staff Writer

Ponca City Police Capt. Don Bohon recently presented the Police Department's 2009 Annual Report to the Ponca City Board of Commissioners.

In his presentation, Bohon said residents' calls for service declined in 2009 to 25,286, compared to 25,918 calls in 2008. That represents a decline of 2.4 percent.

"The annual report is meant to be a statistical snapshot," Bohon said.

Currently the department has 55 sworn officers, with one vacancy, the report stated. There are 24 civilian employees.

The department has 40 marked patrol vehicles, three special vehicles and nine unmarked sedans, Bohon told the commissioners. Department employees drove 528,687 miles in 2009.

Ponca City's population, according to the 2000 Census, is 25,919.

"We need a true count in the 2010 Census," Bohon said. He said population numbers are important when the department applies for a variety of grants and also factors into other decisions made by the department, such as staffing and training.

In 2009, officers received 8,448.25 total hours of training, Bohon said. Of those hours, 2,268 hours were from the Basic CLEET Academy, 1,320 hours were from the Field Training Program and 4,860.25 hours were from in-service, continuing education, advanced and tactical training.

On average, each officer received 153 hours of training, he said.

Of the 55 sworn officers in the department, 21 officers have Basic Certification; seven have Intermediate Certification and 26 have Advanced Certification, Bohon said.

Communications and booking officers also received 823 hours of training, he said.

The Police Department received $158,703 in grant funding during 2009, Bohon reported. That funding included grants from the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, the Federal Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant and the Ponca City Police Foundation.

"The Police Foundation raised funds to purchase the Use of Force simulator," Bohon said. "Sources for those funds include Conoco-Phillips, BNSF Foundation, Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, Ponca City Medical Center, Wal-Mart, the Eighth District District Attorney's Office and numerous other businesses, individuals and organizations."

Serious crimes, what Bohon calls Part 1 Crimes, showed a decline during 2009.

Part 1 Crimes include murder, rape, robbery, assault, breaking and entering, larceny and motor vehicle theft.

In 2009, 1,865 Part 1 Crimes were recorded. That number is down by 58 crimes, or 3 percent from 2008, he said.

The 2009 number also shows a decrease of 10.9 percent, or 228 crimes, over the 10-year average in Part 1 Crimes, as well as a decrease of 8.4 percent, 170 crimes, over the five-year average, he said.

In 2009 Ponca City recorded two murders, 20 rapes, 21 robberies, 596 assaults, 297 cases of breaking and enter, 888 larcenies and 41 motor vehicle thefts.

Bohon told commissioners that according to the 2008 annual report of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Ponca City ranks high in the comparison of Oklahoma cities by the rate of Part 1 crimes per 1,000 population.

Ponca City's rate is 56.84 crimes per 1,000, Bohon said. Other cities and their rates include Del City, 68.25; Shawnee, 68.16; Ardmore, 67.55; Enid, 53.17; Duncan, 46.02; Bethany, 41.18; Altus, 39.17; Stillwater, 29.93, and Yukon, 26.49.

Bohon also provided a breakdown on the types of assaults reported in Ponca City during 2009. He said there were 64 felonious non-domestic assaults, 64 felonious domestic assaults, three felonious assaults on officers, 189 non-felony domestic assaults, five assaults and batteries on officers, and 271 other assaults.

Part 1 crimes which resulted in the arrest of a person younger than 18 also declined, Bohon said, to 196 cases in 2009, compared to 226 in 2008. No juveniles were arrested in connection with homicides, while 1 juvenile was arrested in connection with a rape, 2 for robbery, 123 in assaults, five for breaking and entering, 62 for larcenies and three for motor vehicle theft.

Ponca City Police also increased its clearance rate of Part 1 crimes in 2009, Bohon said, clearing 46.7 percent of crimes, 871 cases, compared to 42.5 percent or 808 cases in 2008. Of those, 196 cases were cleared through the arrest of a juvenile, or 10.5 percent of the reported crimes.

Ponca City far exceeds the national rate of cleared cases in many categories, Bohon reported. Officers cleared 100 percent of the two homicides in 2009, compared to the national average of 63.6 percent. Of the 21 reported robberies, eight, or 38 percent were cleared, compared to the national average of 26.8 percent.

Of 596 reported assaults in Ponca City, 537 — 90.1 percent — were cleared. The national average is 54.9 percent. Of the 297 cases of reported breaking and entering, 58 were cleared, or 19.5 percent. The national average is 12.5 percent.

Ponca City reported 888 cases of larceny, with 242 cases or 27.3 percent cleared. The national average is 19.9 percent. And of the city's 41 auto thefts, 18 were cleared — 43.9 percent — compared to the national average of 12 percent.

The only category in which Ponca City did not exceed the national average was in rapes. Of 20 reported rapes, six were cleared, or 30 percent, compared to the national average of 40.4 percent.

The Juvenile Municipal Court showed an increase in the number of cases heard, from 380 in 2008 to 412 in 2009. The 2009 figure is still lower than the number of cases heard in 2005, 2006 and 2007, however.

Juvenile Municipal Court hears cases involving minors charged with petit larceny, assault and battery, vandalism, minor in possession of beer, minor in possession of alcohol, minor in possession of tobacco, public intoxication, trespassing and curfew violations. With 146 cases, curfew cases are by far the largest category of cases heard.

Bohon said the number of arrests made by Ponca City Police also declined, dropping from 2,478 in 2008 to 2,407 in 2009, or 2.9 percent. This continues a trend of fewer arrests over the past five years. Bohon said the numbers reflect any person who is booked into the city jail. They are arrested for many reasons, including crimes in progress, warrant arrests and persons who turn themselves in when they learn a warrant has been issued.

Officers continue to make more contacts with drivers on the street, Bohon said. In 2009, officers wrote 6,607 citations and gave 8,554 warnings, for a total of 15,161 contacts. That number is up 3.9 percent from 2008 when officers had 14,585 contacts with drivers.

Bohon said the 2008 number reflected a 35 percent increase in contacts with drivers over 2007, which was attributed to the return of motorcycle officers to the department.

"Warnings are much higher this year in total number and ratio," Bohon said. "When you start having a higher number of enforcement contacts, you expect an increase in warnings. A warning is still an enforcement action. We don't have to write a hard-copy citation on everything we do to achieve our goal."

Whether because of enforcement actions or more cautious drivers, Bohon said traffic collisions in 2009 were down to 714 compared to 751 in 2008.

Bohon also told commissioners about the work of the E-911 Communications Center. He said the center answered 4,185 calls for Ponca City Police, Fire Department and EMS, as well as 2,397 calls for other city departments in 2009.

In addition, the center answered 486 calls for the Kay County Sheriff's Office, 352 for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, 115 for the Osage County Sheriff's Office, 104 for McCord Volunteer Fire Department and 135 for the Newkirk Police and Fire Departments.

Animal Control is another division of the Police Department and deals with both live and dead animals; and people recovering animals and adopting unclaimed animals.

Three animal control officers and one secretary staff the Animal Control center. In 2009, Bohon reported, 3,174 citizens visited the center, which handled 2,021 live animals.

Of that, 1,101 animals were euthanized, down from 1,445 in 2008, Bohon said. The staff released 942 animals; 32 were held for medical observation.

Officers issued 494 animal-related citations in 2009, along with 19 vicious dog notices.

Collections were down to $12,302 in 2009 from $19,098 in 2008.

Bohon also recognized the importance of volunteers in the work of the Police Department, acknowledging volunteers with the AFIX fingerprint tracker, Crime Stoppers, Ponca City High School Crime Stoppers, the Neighborhood Watch program, Ponca City Reserve Officers, the Citizens' Police Academy Alumni Association, the Extra Eyes program, and the Ponca City Police Chaplains.

"We are lucky to have a great number of volunteers that help with our programs," he said.