Greenwood police: Violent crimes highest in 10 years

GREENWOOD, Ind (WISH) — Violent crimes in Greenwood are the highest they’ve been in 10 years.

The police department released an annual report for 2015. According to the 16 page report, even the number of calls were up. Greenwood police went on almost 30,000 runs, up 35 percent from 2014.

The numbers are high and the criminals are leaving their victims feeling low.

“This wiped out every dream, every bit of planning that we had for our future and our retirement. I’m 50-years-old. I’m not young anymore,” said Michael Dyson.

More than seven months ago, thieves broke into Dyson’s Greenwood jewelry store, Alternative Creations.

Police said they disabled the alarm and cut through the roof to gain access.

“The cases were pried open and everything topsy-turvy. The whole store was ransacked and $300 plus thousand worth of jewelry, gone,” he said.

Dyson was forced to move out of his store. He said insurance would only cover a fraction of what was stolen.

Police said the suspects are still at large.

“They may be just sitting on it and waiting for it to kind of settle and people to forget about it. We may be able to find it, eventually,” said Greenwood Police Department’s Kortney Burrello.

The department said they are busy trying to crack many other cases too. Although the number of burglaries has fluctuated over the past 10 years, other theft related crimes have gone up. Another area that has seen an increase is violent crimes.

According to the report, there were 211 violent crimes committed in Greenwood in 2015, the highest number in a decade. That’s almost 50 percent more than 10-years-ago when there were 144, and it’s 18 more than 2014.

Violent crimes are broken down into four categories:

• Aggravated assault
• Robbery
• Forcible rape
• Murder

Greenwood had 188 aggravated assault reports and 19 cases of robbery. There were two cases of forcible rape, including an elderly woman at the Valle Vista subdivision. There were also two murders reported, the year before there were none.

Police believe drugs are a driving force, “Heroin. Heroin is across the country on the rise. You’re going to see that trend over the next few years,” warned Burrello.

Burrello said in addition to the drug problem, staffing issues at the department are also a factor. To combat the problem, officials have set up Police Connect, which allows residents to file non-emergency reports online. Police are then able to focus on the more serious crimes.