Police stats highlight of POA board meeting

This week at the Jerry Kosoglow show, otherwise known as the Village POA board meeting
a proclamation was given for American Indian Heritage Month.
The interim general manager, Kosoglow, is having difficulty ascertaining the finances of the Village. He thought there was a $2.7 million shortfall in lot assessments, it now appears the shortfall is closer to $3.2 million. I guess an error of half a million dollars is acceptable. After all he is the professional.
The annual fees package was passed.
An audience member asked about why the architectural control committee has so much power. The structure set out by the Village covenants was explained. The ACC is the only Cooper committee, it is not a POA committee. It was also noted in the board packet that complaints to the ACC are down.
Wilbur Smither of the strategic planning committee made a presentation to the board. The board will finalize the strategic plan at the next POA board meeting.
Chief Cornett, director of public safety, reported on police activity from last month. There were 73 citations issued in September compared to last year’s 59 citations issued in the same time period. This includes traffic stops, ramp checks, vacation checks and other pro-active activities.
In addition to supplying statistics for September of this year, Chief went back over the statistics from 2005 through 2005 to demonstrate that crime is down in 2010.
Police department statistics from 2005 to 2009 and 2010 year to date are as follows.
Battery 2005, 6; 2006, 4; 2007, 2; 2008, 4; 2009, 3; so far in 2010, 1.
Breaking/entering 2005, 11; 2006, 9; 2007, 22; 2008, 23; 2009, 41; so far in 2010, 19.
Burglary 2005, 11; 2006, 9; 2007, 10; 2008, 6; 2009, 23; so far in 2010, 13.
Criminal mischief 2005, 42; 2006, 37; 2007, 55; 2008, 43; 2009, 44; so far in 2010, 32.
Other felony complaints 2005, 10; 2006, 5; 2007, 9; 2008, 17; 2009, 15; so far in 2010, 4.
Theft over $500 in 2005, 34; 2006, 28; 2007, 38; 2008, 56; 2009, 42; so far in 2010, 26.
Theft under $500 in 2005, 55; 2006, 57; 2007, 41; 2008, 64; 2009, 44; so far in 2010, 37.
Rape 2005, 0; 2006, 1; 2007, 0; 2008, 0; 2009, 0; so far in 2010, 0.
Homicide 2005, 0; 2006, 0; 2007, 0; 2008, 0; 2009, 0; so far in 2010, 1. The good news is the one homicide this year was solved and there was a resulting arrest in three days.
The Chief’s statistics show crime is down in the Village so far this year. The bad new is that we still have November and December to go. These two months are notorious for increased violent activity due to holiday drinking.
The Chief also presented fire department statistics to the board. There have been five structure fires this year, four cooking fires, 12 smoke scares, two car fires and 12 wild land fires.
The responses by fire stations are as follows.
DeSoto fire station responded to 44 fire-related calls in 2010, six in September.
Cortez fire station responded to 28 fire-related calls in 2010, three in September.
Balboa fire station responded to 21 fire-related calls in 2010, three in September.
Coronado fire station responded to 14 fire-related calls in 2010, one in September.
It should be noted that suicides are up this year as compared to last year. So far to date there have been three suicides, one of them in September. Last year there was only one suicide.
The conclusion presented by the Chief to his statistical analysis is as follows.
"The decrease in areas such as breaking and entering and burglary may be a direct result of arrests made where the offenders are now incarcerated in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Another offender responsible for several commercial burglaries is awaiting trial. All of these lived in the Village.
The majority of reported breaking and entering indicate that possibly juveniles are responsible. It has been reported by confidential sources that a certain segment of school age juveniles are committing some of these type offenses for the thrill factor, commonly referred to as ‘hitting a lick’. By no means do we conclude that all teenagers are involved, just a certain group. We can also show from prior experience that over 96-percent of criminal incidents are committed by those living in the Village, or those having family members living in the Village.
The 34.6-percent increase in disturbances may be attributed to today’s economical issues. A second factor is the decrease in age of a certain segment of residents due to the availability of reasonable housing."
Kosoglow and the POA board will meet again on Nov. 3 at 9 a.m. at the Ouachita room at the Ponce de Leon Center. Most of the public is invited.