The Whitestown Metropolitan Police Department released its monthly report with statistics increasing
from January to February throughout the town.
According to the update, “the officers at WMPD have continued to work dilligently in their service and protection of the Whitestown Community” and “while it is difficult to account for every task and accomplishment on an individual and department-wide level, some updates and highlights are below.”
The report highlighted a pursuit that occurred on Feb. 9 where officers attempted to stop a white Grand Cherokee on northbound Interstate 65 when the vehicle fled from officers. According to the report, a 21 pound bag of vacuum-sealed marijuana was thrown out of the window onto the interstate and was recoveed by law enforcement following the pursuit. The Lebanon Police Department reportedly deployed tire deflation devices near the 140-mile marker that successfully deflated multiple tires from the vehicle, and the numerous Boone County departments successfully apprehended the two suspects during a high-risk traffic stop.
The incident revealed the 21-pound bag of marijuana, one gold plated Draco pistol and a Draco magazine within the vehicle when the pursuit began, and the driver, Joshua Mancia of Lafayette and Richard Gonzalez of Lafayette were taken into custody.
Aside from the highlights, the department released its monthly statistics, which showed increases in the patrol division and investigation division.
The patrol division showed an increase in case reports from 78 in January to 85 in February, in arrest reports from 30 in January to 49 in February and in accidents from 39 in January to 41 in February.
Enforcement activity showed an increase as well from 1,326 calls for service in January to 1,564 calls for servince in February and 497 traffic stops in January to 725 traffic stops in February.
The report breakdown showed that 24% of arrests were theft or fraud, 19% were non-criminal, 18% were traffic arrests or summons, 12% were other offenses, 11% were narcotics arrests, 8% were OWI and 8% were other arrests.
For the criminal investigations, statistics also increased from 20 in January to 26 in February for crimes against property, from 17 in January to 18 in February for crimes against person and 69 in January to 71 in February for cyber investigations.
For the training division, officers completed 252 hours of training throughut the month of February.
“WMPD strives to ensure that our members are mentally and physically prepared to best serve and protect our community by going above and beyond in our training efforts,” the report reads. “Various disciplines were covered in our training efforts including firearms, physical tactics, use of force, emergency medical, leadership, legal updates, administrative updates and simulator and scenarios.”
According to the report, all members completed the firearms training with a focus on cold weather weapon manipulation with handgun and patrol rifle systems. Other officers within the department underwent Interdiction Mastermind training and Cognitive Interview and Investigation Overdose Homicide training.