Police chief reports 30% rise in calls, cites crash �22triangle�22 and outlines staffing changes

Police Chief Anderson told the commission that the YPEC police department has seen a marked jump in demand for service this year, reporting 5,344 calls for service from Jan. 1 to April 1 compared with 4,085 in the same period last year. "So that number is about a 30% increase," Anderson said, and added he expects calls to keep rising as weather warms.

Anderson singled out a local crash hotspot he described as a small triangular area around Michigan, Hamilton and Washtenaw avenues. "Last month we've had over 60 crashes. At least 20 of them are in from that ... triangle," he said, calling the cluster "pretty important, pretty prevalent for the community." The chief said the pattern appears tied to a particular roundabout/turn where vehicles frequently come to rest and prompt 911 calls.

The chief also reviewed enforcement and staffing. He said the department issued 176 traffic citations in the period covered, and that "roughly close to half" of those were warnings, which he framed as an educational enforcement strategy. On staffing, Anderson said the department currently lists five vacancies, recently issued three offers and expects the number of open positions to fall to about two next month if there are no resignations. Two recruits are in late-stage field training and likely to begin solo patrols within roughly a month.

Commissioners probed how officers code incidents, asking whether distinctions such as "obstructing police" and "obstructing justice" are reliable for trend analysis. Anderson said officers make the initial report and a supervisor reviews files before prosecutors receive them; he added that prosecutors and judges may later reclassify charges. "This is what the officers are checking and submitting," he said, noting that a prosecutor may determine a different final charge.

Anderson described trends across categories: no homicides or kidnappings in the reporting window, a small numerical rise in some larceny and burglary categories, and a 100% increase in a specific felony category reported as CSC-first-degree (two in March 2026 vs. one in March 2025). He also said juvenile offenses were down in March and that detective follow-up on past and current cases is likely to increase.

The commission did not take formal action on the report; members asked for clearer documentation and proposed a handbook or tracker for records and policy-review items so the public can follow outstanding requests and policy statuses. The police chief said he will continue to provide monthly memoranda and answer follow-up questions.