Welfare checks that include 911 hang-up calls headed a list of the top 20 calls Carson City deputies responded to in September. Deputies conducted 187 welfare checks, followed by 102 reports involving juveniles and 101 intrusion alarms, only 1 percent of which were valid.
With a monthly review of the department statistics made possible by a recently installed system that automates sheriff and fire/emergency medical service dispatching operations, Sheriff Kenny Furlong said his staff can be better focused.
"These statistics will help us change the way we do business," Furlong said. "It shows us where we need to adjust our patrols."
In addition to crime statistics, the department will now also keep track of how many people are booked into the jail, which addresses deputies most often frequent, the number of traffic accidents in the city, and where department overtime numbers can be lowered.
"These help us not only fiscally, but with our law enforcement activities," Furlong said.
According to the September numbers, deputies investigated a total of 515 reported crimes, including 68 assaults, 59 car burglaries, 31 reports of fraud, 45 vandalisms, 14 residential burglaries, 14 drug related crimes and 17 drunken-driving reports. Of those, 173 cases were closed. In all, deputies responded to 5,199 calls for service.
The average time for a deputy on the graveyard shift to be sent out on a call was 30 seconds, swing shift deputies were en route within 1 minute 46 seconds, and day shift had a response time of 54 seconds, with each call averaging 20 minutes.
Furlong said the differences between day and graveyard shifts was partly due to the volume of calls and traffic issues.
In August, there were 82 accidents in the city. In September, there were only 72, a 12 percent improvement Furlong attributes to monitoring the statistics.