"Just be assured that the men and women of the Wichita Police Department are working hard daily out there. We recognize our crime trends and we stay on top of those."
During a daily media briefing, The Wichita Police Department discussed 2014 from the perspective of law enforcement. KMUW’s Abigail Wilson reports that the city's overall crime rate is down, but certain crimes, like homicide, are on the rise.
Interim Police Chief Nelson Mosley said that according to statistics, Part 1 crimes have decreased 2.64 percent in the past year. Crimes within that designation include homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft.
“Of those categories, homicides are up 52.94 percent; rapes are up 8.1 percent; robberies are up by 15.1 percent; aggravated assaults are up 3.7 percent; burglaries are down 1 percent; larcenies are down 4.7 percent; and auto thefts are down 10.3 percent," Mosley said. "Again, this is overall crime for Wichita and we did see an overall 2.64 percent decrease.”
There were 26 homicides in the city in 2014, two of which remain unsolved. In the upcoming year, Mosley said that the department will be focusing on implementing body cameras for officers and increasing transparency.
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