With holiday shopping in full swing, Columbus Police Chief Joseph St. John is focusing officers on the downtown area.
“We are focusing on downtown where panhandlers are,” St. John said. “We want to take care of this problem.”
Members of the CPD met with downtown store owners earlier in the month, and panhandlers were on of their primary concerns, St. John said.
“We only have a couple of them, but they are very aggressive,” he said, noting they have been active daily from the morning hours until the early evening.
In response, police are showing an increased presence in the downtown area.
And those participating in the Black Friday shopping rush at Wal-Mart likely noticed officers on site to control indoor traffic.
“We are having a strong presence at Wal-Mart and other stores,” St. John said. “We want to make Columbus a nice place to shop during this season.”
October Crime stats
The CPD reported a total of 3,257 calls for service during the month of October.
Police were dispatched to 753 traffic-related calls, 550 miscellaneous calls, 263 disturbance calls, 249 calls for suspicious person, vehicle or circumstances, 213 calls for business checks, 196 calls for auto accidents, 191 calls for commercial alarms, 86 calls for stolen property and 65 calls to assist motorists.
CPD also took part in 64 escorts, answered 63 residential alarm-activation calls, 44 calls on shoplifting, 38 juvenile-complaint calls, 34 follow-up calls, 32 close patrol calls, 31 harassment calls, 28 vandalism calls, 26 auto-burglary calls, 24 warrant-service calls, 24 fire-related calls, 23 health-medical calls, 21 assault calls, 15 stand-by calls, 14 prowler calls, 11 home burglary calls and 10 business burglary calls.
CPD answered nine calls on abandoned vehicles, three auto theft calls, three robbery calls and two armed-robbery calls.
CPD officers made 125 arrests during the month of October.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
