Police begin most-wanted initiative
BUCYRUS — It's not the FBI, but the Bucyrus Police Department has its own most-wanted suspects all the same. In fact, the department has begun a new initiative, and is stepping up how it notifies the public of these highly sought persons in hopes that getting the word out may lead to their apprehension.
The BPD's first most-wanted suspect is Brooklyn R. Gilliland, who is wanted on a warrant of trafficking in heroin. Her last known address is 1001 Reid St., Bucyrus. Gilliland is 27, stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds, has brown hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Gilliland is asked to call the Bucyrus Police Department at 419-562-1006 or 419-834-2023.
Bucyrus Police Chief David Koepke has also released his department's statistics through the first three quarters of this year, and they reflect increased police activity as a result of the department being fully staffed for the first time in years. Numbers are up substantially in OVI enforcement and vice, which includes felony drug arrests, over the first three quarters of 2014.
But overall, many of the department's more routine calls are down.
What the department calls nature statistics, or calls for service, totaled 10,164 for the first three quarters of 2015, down from 10,384 in 2014. Traffic stops were the most frequent calls at 1,064, followed by disorderly persons at 826 and alarm drops at 590.
Incident-type statistics, or calls for service requiring a police report, often including court action or other agency follow-up, also dropped, from 3,195 to 2,772, with legal service (317), larceny (309) and disturbances (248) topping that list.
Larcenies so far in 2015 are down substantially from 2014, by 42 cases, with burglaries and breaking-and-enterings only slightly lower. But the Police Department has stepped up its OVI patrolling quite a bit, with 50 incidences this year compared to just 12 at the same point in 2014. Vice cases, with incorporates drug enforcement, is also way up, from 140 cases last year to 208 so far in 2015.
Traffic citations routinely add up for the department, but Koepke noted that the 2,772 issued through the first three quarters of 2015 represent a sizable drop from the 3,195 of a year ago.
The police chief said the department's vehicle fleet is now almost entirely updated. Of its 10 Ford vehicles, all are model year 2015 Explorers or Tauruses. The department is still utilizing a 2010 Explorer, used by a K9 unit and its handler, and a 2009 Ford Crown Victoria with 102,054 miles, which is assigned to the school resource officer.
419-563-9225
Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ