Despite a couple of high-profile cases, it's been a slow year for local scanner-listeners, with criminal cases dropping by more than a third in Wrangell over the previous year.
In 2014, 74 criminal cases and 36 minor offenses were processed by Wrangell's District Court. These latter included state and contested local issues, including bail scheduling, hunting and fishing citations, and traffic violations.
This is down from 112 cases processed the previous year, though the 36 minor offenses remained unchanged.
“It's been a topic of discussion,” Police Chief Doug McCloskey said of the decline.
He explained his department has not received many citizen complaints, and while the seasonal population swings tend to bring additional problems, this year was less problematic than usual.
“It's just been very quiet,” said McCloskey.
He hypothesized the change might be related in some degree to demographic shifts, such as an aging population. Rain Coast Data recently reported Wrangell's over-65 year old population increased by 16 percent between 2010 and 2013, pushing the median age to 47.
Mostly though, McCloskey thinks residents have been settling minor disputes themselves.
“I do like to see the numbers down though. I think it's good for everybody,” he added.
Looking ahead, he said the police will begin implementing the revised animal control ordinance passed by the Assembly last fall. Generally this means addressing “dogs at large,” those wandering around town and the business district unattended.
McCloskey asks that pet owners have tags made for their dogs to make them more easily identifiable. This would give police a chance to contact the owner before having to go through the impounding process, and so possibly save them the trouble of a fine.
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