YCSO RELEASES 2022 AGENCY STATISTICS SUMMARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT TREND
Published on March 07, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Kristin Greene, Public Affairs and Government Relations Director
Phone: 928-777-7441 Cell: 623-256-5743 / Email: Kristin.Greene@Yavapaiaz.gov
YCSO RELEASES 2022 AGENCY STATISTICS SUMMARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT TRENDS
PRESCOTT, ARIZONA (March 6, 2023) – YCSO has compiled agency-wide statistics for 2022 that include calls for service, arrests, drug interactions, cases solved and more. YCSO covers over 8000 square miles broken up into four area commands – Northern, Eastern and Forest Patrol, Southeast and Southwest, each covering approximately 2000 square miles.
A summary of key provisions is provided below. More detailed information and statistics specific to command areas can be found on our website 2022 Agency Statistics YCSOAZ.gov.
YCSO Law Enforcement Trends
More Calls Requiring More Deputies for Longer Times
The YCSO Law Enforcement Services Division has seen a long-term trend of more calls requiring more deputies and for a longer period of time. In years past, two deputies would handle many calls for service, including calls such as domestic violence or mental illness. Those two deputies would be forced to control and restrain subjects to provide for their safety quickly.
This approach has been replaced with our more modern response, where we often respond with at least 3-4 deputies. The increased number of deputies allows for subjects to be contained within a larger area. It gives deputies the safety to slow down, slowly de-escalate and resolve situations with potential violence. The increased number of deputies also allows the patrol deputies to use specialized equipment like less-lethal impact weapons and ballistic shields, again giving them options to preserve life.
In total during 2022, YCSO responded to 2943 calls of a nature associated with an average 2-3 deputy response and 517 calls of a nature associated with an average of 3 or more deputies.
Armed Suspects
The other trend we have observed is more calls with a high potential for violence from armed suspects, some of whom have made threats against law enforcement and who have often barricaded in structures. The initial response to these situations often requires at least 4-5 deputies to immediately respond. This larger response allows the deputies to set up a perimeter and contain the subject from a safer distance. Those deputies then usually need a response from Quick Response Team (QRT) or SWAT based on the risk and complexity associated with the incident. In 2022 YCSO had 15 SWAT calls and 23 QRT calls.
AGENCY STATS SUMMARY
Calls for Services stayed about static from 2021 to 2022 at 42,726, with the highest call volume in the Northern Area Command which encompasses the communities such as Chino Valley, Prescott, Paulden, Ashfork and Williamson Valley. Traffic stops, welfare checks, forest area checks, citizen disputes, civil process and calls of suspicious persons or circumstances account for most of those calls.
Number of Arrests for the agency in 2022 totaled 1944, with the highest volume – 651 - coming from the Eastern Area Command which encompasses communities such as Camp Verde, Village of Oak Creek, and Cornville. The area continued to see high levels of personnel intensive calls, including a risk of violence or self-harm, counting 56 assault cases and 74 suicides, threat of or attempts.
Search and Rescue: YCSO relies heavily on our Auxiliary Volunteer Units such as the Search and Rescue Teams, Volunteers in Protection, the 4x4 and Jeep Units in our duties. In 2022 there were 127 SAR missions and 324 SAR training missions completed. The agency also saw an increase of 50 new members to the 260 current active SAR volunteers.
Mental Health related calls continued in 2022 with response to 278 suicides, threat of suicide, or attempted suicides; and 86 referrals to treatment through partnership with mobile crisis units.
Division Specific Summary Samples
Criminal Investigations Bureau: The CIB, which investigates major crimes such as homicide, sexual assault, and burglaries, saw an increase in violent crimes in 2022 with 8 homicides, 3 attempted homicides and 2 major assault cases as an example. The Bureau was assigned 229 cases and closed 225, which is an impressive close rate.
PANT: Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking (PANT) saw a record year for fentanyl and other narcotic seizures, despite a shortfall in staff. They responded to 144 suspected overdose 43 fatal overdoses, made 265 felony arrests, and executed 83 search warrants. They also saw the first prosecution for overdose death in the state.
The K9 Interdiction Unit, which is also PANT is still one of the few teams in Arizona trained in fentanyl detection. They work the Interstates and make vehicle stops to find narcotics and narcotics traffickers. They seized o932,000 fentanyl pills, 157 pounds of meth and 25.2 pounds of cocaine in 2022.
Patrol deputies made 174 DUI arrests and over 7700 traffic stops for various reasons, including 163 for excessive speeding. They also responded to or proactively performed all manner of calls from noise disturbances to violent offenses in progress to neighborhood patrols for suspicious happenings.
SWAT/QRT (Quick Response Team) also had a busy year with 40 callouts, an increase of 12.5% from previous year, including 2 agency assists for officer involved shootings and 4 for high-risk warrant service.
Deputy Coverage is predicated on the minimum number of deputies needed for both responsiveness to the community and officer safety. On average there are 3 deputies patrolling area commands for each of the day, swing and graveyard shifts. The understaffing of the agency due to recruitment difficulties have made it difficult to adequately cover the area commands with personnel, forcing long shifts and excessive overtime. Though YCSO has managed to be highly responsive to community needs it can undoubtedly be better with more staff. More staff would also increase the safety of the deputies when situations require additional resources.