The Hogansville Police Department saw its calls for service increase to over 7,500 in 2017, but major crimes — or part I crimes — dropped by 34 percent.

Hogansville Police Chief Brian Harr presented his annual report during Monday night’s city council meeting and a lot of the focus was on part I crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft and vehicle theft. The Hogansville Police Department had 102 reported Part I offenses in 2017, which was down from the 155 in 2016.

“It’s remarkable for the people we have out there doing the job,” said Hogansville Police Chief Brian Harr. “They have done a great job of getting out in the community and shifting the focus. This will make the third consecutive year that we have dropped part I crimes in the City of Hogansville.”

Hogansville did not have a murder in 2017 and has had only one homicide in the last 11 years, according to information previously reported by the LDN.

Theft went down significantly from 99 reported cases in 2016 to 65 in 2017. Also dropping were vehicle thefts, which went from seven to two, burglary, which dropped from 26 to 22 and aggravated assault, which fell from 20 to 7.

“It’s really hard to prevent the murder and the rape. It’s really hard to be proactive on that,” Harr said. “You can educate, but it’s really hard to prevent. But burglary, theft and vehicle theft are really preventable crimes.”

There were some small increases in other part I crimes. There were three rapes reported in 2017, an increase from the one reported in 2016. There were three robberies in 2017, a slight increase over the two reported in 2016.

One number that continues to climb is the department’s total calls for service, which went up to 7,566 calls in 2017. That was a 2.3 percent increase over 2016. 

Hogansville also arrested 269 people, which was 15 more than the year before. The Hogansville Police Department used force in less than 3 percent of its total arrests in 2017, Harr said. Officers deployed a Taser four times, used their hands four times and fired a firearm one time to dispose of an injured animal.

Harr said there were eight citizen complaints filed in 2017. Four of those complaints were not sustained and four were classified as sustained. The agency conducted three internal affairs investigations in 2017, and two of those investigations were sustained. The other was ruled not sustained.

“Those two officers are no longer with [the department],” Harr said.

Harr also talked about the department’s community programs, which include an Easter egg hunt, Trunk or Treat and the Christmas parade. The department helped deliver more than 90 Thanksgiving meals through its canned food drive in December.

The Hogansville Police Department was also awarded the Medal of Merit award during the Valor awards in September.

“We did a lot of good things in this community for being a small police department. Two times in three years we were voted by our peers for the Troup County Valor Award, and that means a lot coming from people like Chief [Lou] Dekmar and the sheriff,” Harr said.