The crime rate decreased in both Brundidge and Troy during 2014, according to statistics reported by both police departments.

Brundidge Police Chief Moses Davenport said Brundidge police officers had worked over the last year to remain proactive in the Brundidge community.

“Last year, as far as the number of arrests, the crime kind of went down,” Davenport said. “I think overall last year was a better year than the year before.”

Davenport told members of the Brundidge Council on Tuesday that 1,672 total complaints were called into the department in 2014 and 16,537 entries were made on the Computer-Aided Dispatch system. The department also reported 75 wrecks and 117 arrests.

In reporting the types of cases addressed during the year, Davenport said the department worked two drug possession cases, fives counterfeiting cases, eight menacing cases, no possession of forged instrument cases, four forgery cases, no terrorist threat cases, two reckless endangerment cases, nine criminal trespassing cases, 39 criminal mischief cases, no property damage cases, two unauthorized use of a vehicle cases, three breaking and entering a motor vehicle cases, nine identity theft cases, no sexual misconduct cases, no missing persons cases, no stalking cases, no receiving stolen property cases, no public lewdness cases, 15 harassing communications cases, two deceased persons cases, 31 cases for assault, 130 domestic violence cases, 79 harassment cases, 19 burglary cases, two attempted murder cases, 110 theft of property cases, four robbery cases, no gas drive off cases, no violation of protection order cases, one theft of services case, 11 disorderly conduct cases, no minor in consumption of alcohol cases, no open container violation cases, five rape/sexual abuse cases and no bomb threat cases.

Davenport credited much of the success of the department to his officers remaining vigilant.

“We are going to be known,” Davenport said. “We are going to be more visible this year than we were last year. Hopefully, we can get more community cooperation. Community cooperation is really the key to preventing crime and apprehending the crime.”

Davenport said in an effort to prevent burglaries and property crimes, video cameras would be used more over the next year as a way to deter crime.

“Video cameras will be used more this year than last year, especially in stores where we have theft of property issues. If the perpetrator does take something not only will we have an eyewitness and we will also have a video,” he said.

Davenport said as a whole he anticipated continued community involvement in the year ahead. “We always appreciate the cooperation we get from neighboring agencies and our citizens. They have been diligently working with us and we hope that they will continue to help us in preventing crime over the next year,” he said.

Much like Brundidge, Troy PD has also reported a decrease in crime numbers over the last year, according to Lt. Bryan Weed.

Troy Police made 57 violent crime cases, 30 aggravated assault cases, nine rape cases, 18 robbery cases, zero murder cases, 834 property crime cases, 192 burglary cases, 612 theft cases, 30 motor vehicle theft cases and one arson case.Weed accredited much of the police department’s success over the last year to the increased manpower and efforts made by the officers.

“Crime has continued to drop every year since 2011,” Weed said. “That’s a credit to the work of the officers and detectives. We would also like to say thanks to the mayor and the city council for affording us the ability to add manpower to the department. We have added seven officers since Chief Jimmy Ennis was appointed in 2011.”

Weed said the department aimed to continue providing quality service as much as officers were able.

“The police department encourages our officers to be diligent in their attempts to provide that service not only by answering calls that come in that they have to react to, but also by trying to be a positive force within the community. The statistics have shown the decline of crime over the last few years, and we feel that is because of the increase of manpower and quality of officers we have been able to hire over that time period.”

While many of Troy PD’s numbers have decreased, Weed said there were crimes the department had no control over.

“The unfortunate side of it is there are some portions of the statistics that there is nothing you can do to prevent,” Weed said. “Statistics can go up just as well as they can go down. There is nothing you can do to stop murders. There is nothing you can do to prevent all rapes or robberies, but you can be a presence. We can be seen and continue to be proactive in as far as patrolling efforts in areas that may have high crime, and that is what we have attempted to do. We try our best identifying areas that have increased crime rates. We try to increase patrol and increase our presence in those areas, and we are going to try and continue improving.”