South Bend Police Department updates community on latest crime stats

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - The South Bend Police Department held its regular Crime Stats Meeting on Wednesday.

Those meetings are usually held monthly but there was no meeting last month due to the department’s awards ceremony. So, there were two months of data to compare and contrast.

Let’s get to the most positive news right away. There were no murders in South Bend in February or March. That is part of an ongoing positive trend.

But there were increases in specific types of crime from February to March.

Aggravated assaults increased from 46 in February to 50 in March.

Residential burglaries increased as well. In February there were 13, and in March there were 25.

The department keeps track of shots fired incidents but shared only the March numbers on Wednesday night, not February.

In March, there were 103 such episodes and 68 were categorized as “informal reports.” That means officers found nothing when they responded.

35 were categorized as “Case Report Generated.” That means officers found evidence of a crime.

“When we do find shell casings for those cases generated, we do test those in our ballistics lab so we try to tie them into other shootings that may have occurred previously or in different cities. We do run them,” said South Bend Police Department Resource Officer Brian Meador.

There were only a handful of residents present at the meeting. They had the opportunity to ask questions after police shared the data.

Officer Joseph Cole says the crime stats meetings are a great opportunity to get information and ask questions.

“I think the most important part is you really get to have a platform you mentioned earlier to voice your opinion in a way that’s a little bit more private because as we know privacy and transparency, kind of go hand-in-hand,” Cole said. “You want to be a person that is privately sharing information, but also transparent from our end to address those issues and know that we are going to address those issues. Some people don’t want to speak to the police in public, which is fine. Some people would rather have it in a more private setting, so that provides that platform.”

Staying ahead of cruel and indifferent criminals begins with knowing what they are up to.

If you live in South Bend, you really should attend one of these meetings. They’re informative and you can have one-one conversations with some fellow officers.

If you have any concerns about something going on in your neighborhood, you can call the community resources officers at 574-235-9401.