The Bowling Green Police Division handled more than 30,500 calls for service in 2013 – an increase of
more than 2,000 from 2012.
These figures and others were released Monday in the agency’s 2013 annual report.
All told, BGPD received 30,519 calls for service, up from 28,371 in 2012. There were a total of 4,094
traffic citations issued, and 2,903 criminal arrests. Operating a vehicle while impaired (OVI) arrests
numbered 385.
The total number of traffic crashes in 2013 – 977 – decreased by 68 over 2012, but the number of injury
crashes, 102, increased by six over the previous year. There were no fatal crashes in 2013.
Additionally, the report shows that use of force by officers has been declining in recent years, from 56
incidents in 2011 to 18 in 2013. Of those incidents, officers deployed a TASER or pepper spray 11 times.

"The amount of force that we’ve had to utilize has really gone down," said Maj. Tony Hetrick.

The report indicates the decline in use of force may be related to the issuance of TASERs to officers,
since perpetrators are familiar with what they do and would be less likely to engage them, as well as
changing tactics resulting from training given to officers in the agency.
There were also a total of 19 complaints made against BGPD employees in 2013, up from eight the previous
year.
"It is up from last year, but I can’t really account for that, why people complained versus other
years when they didn’t," said Hetrick.
However, of those complaints, 10 were discovered to be unfounded, two were rescinded, and four were
sustained. One of those, an internal complaint against an employee, resulted in a 45-day suspension.
The efforts of the BGPD’s Investigations Section, which was assigned 213 total cases, resulted in a
clearance rate of 78 percent and an arrest rate of 51 percent. The Investigations Section handles cases
such as assaults, robbery, burglary, and drug-related cases.
Among other efforts, the BGPD additionally received a total of nearly $47,000 in grant monies from
federal, state and local sources, and, with the Fire Division, developed a joint command trailer for use
at community events and emergency situations.