DEARBORN — The Dearborn Police Department has released its “year in review” statistics for 2022. The infographic it released displays an increase or decrease in each category for 2022 in comparison to 2021. The categories include service calls, arrests, crashes and citations for speeding and stop sign and traffic signal violations.

There was a 6 percent increase in service calls in 2022 as well as an increase in the amount of citations given. Specifically, there was a 94 percent increase in speeding citations and a 78 percent increase in traffic signal and stop sign violations.

According to the “transparency dashboard” on Dearborn Police Department’s website, the most common calls for service were traffic complaints, standing at 17,436 total calls. The most common citations given were for driving at a speed of 1 to 5 MPH over the limit, with a total of 5,326 citations. The second most common citations were for disregarding stop signs, with 2,093 citations.

Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin told The Arab American News that one of his goals as chief was to increase police presence on the street and in the neighborhoods to combat reckless driving. This resulted in more citations for speeding and running stop signs due to the increased policing throughout the city.

There was an 11 percent decrease in arrests specifically regarding low level traffic offenses. When asked if the decrease in arrests is connected with the increase in citations, Shahin stated that the department’s focus on tackling resident concerns of hazardous driving in neighborhoods has lead to fewer arrests for minor traffic offenses.

“What we did as a department is we recognized that we wanted to refocus our efforts towards the neighborhoods, choosing to focus on traffic safety and resident concerns, so that’s resulted in fewer arrests for low level traffic offenses and non-violent misdemeanor warrants,” Shahin said.

The most common reason for arrest, according to the Dearborn Police Department’s transparency dashboard, was assault and battery, with 325 total. The second most common was misdemeanor arrest warrant, with 316 total. There were 237 arrests for individuals driving with a suspended or revoked license, 220 arrests for felony arrest warrants, 120 arrests for retail fraud theft second degree, 108 arrests for retail fraud theft third degree and 103 arrests for operating under the influence.

Total crashes in the city have decreased by 2 percent and Shahin said that this is a byproduct of the amplified police presence in neighborhoods patrolling the area and writing up citations when needed.

The crime rate throughout the city varied for property and violent crimes as there has been an increase in property crime, but fewer violent crimes. Both car theft and larceny from vehicles have been on the rise and Shahin said he encourages residents to lock their car doors as more than 80 percent of the cars broken into are left unlocked.

Violent crimes such as assault and battery have reduced.

“We’ve had a significant decrease in assaultive crimes like assault and battery, aggravated assault,” Shahin said. “We’ve had a nearly 18 percent decrease there.”

He shared ways the department has been able to serve the community to its full capacity; one of those ways is the lateral transfer program, which allows police officers in neighboring cities with up to three years of service to transfer over to the Dearborn Police Department without suffering a pay cut. He said this has significantly helped the department hire and retain qualified officers who can protect and serve the city of Dearborn.

There has also been an increase in the number of mental health calls the department is receiving. To combat this, the Dearborn Police Department has recently launched a “co-responder mental health model” in order to effectively respond to the influx of mental health calls.

For more information regarding specific statistics for service calls, arrests, crashes and citations in 2022, you can visit the Dearborn Police Department’s transparency dashboard: https://portal.arxcommunity.com/dashboards/community/mi-ci-dearborn-pd