Maricopa County Sheriff’s Capt. Larry Kratzer, commander for the MCSO District 7 based in Fountain Hills, made his periodic report to the Town Council on June 21 and announced a change to personnel deployment.

Kratzer said that MCSO made the decision recently to consolidate all its detectives at headquarters and send them out to districts as needed for investigations. Kratzer said previously detectives had been assigned to the districts, with three in District 7. He said the decision was made to better balance the workload for personnel and provide more expertise for certain types of cases. Kratzer said cases for such crimes as fraud and identity theft have been spiking and having all cases worked from the single location can provide better results.

Town officials, however, are not happy with the decision. Town Manager Grady Miller said when they continue contract discussions with MCSO, getting the detectives back will be at the top on the list.

“As a small community simply having the personnel is important to us,” Miller said.

Councilman David Spelich, a law enforcement professional, said he has a concern about the clearance rate for cases.

“I’d like to compare the clearance on these cases,” Spelich said. “Why were we not consulted on this decision? I know you don’t have the answer to that.

“I don’t think this is going to be good.”

Mayor Ginny Dickey said the Town would be watching this closely.

“We will watch to see the repercussions,” she said.

Kratzer also provided in his report a two-year comparison of calls to District 7. He said the transition from a COVID year in 2021 to an easing of restrictions is reflected in some numbers. He noted that welfare checks, usually a leading “call for service” for deputies, declined from 969 in 2021 to 804 in 2022. Most other calls for service were relatively consistent year to year, with a couple of notable exceptions. Suspicious person and/or suspicious vehicle reports increased from 88 to 108.

“People are remaining diligent in calling MCSO when they see something they think may be suspicious,” Kratzer said.

Non-injury vehicle crashes increased by 40% from 116 to 163.

Animal noise/problem reports increased by about 37% from 49 to 67.

“On view” activity is deputy initiated and not the result of a report or call. This is generally when the deputy is not responding to a call for service, as calls for service take priority over on-view activity.

Kratzer noted that activities in this category include patrol/vacation watch, school programs and community policing, all of which increased substantially in 2022 over 2021 due to the relaxing of COVID restrictions.

Traffic violations remained mostly consistent with just a 1.5% increase. However, there was a significant increase in the number of speeding violations, from 26 (2021) to 147 in 2022.

Deputy patrols for speeders has increased, according to Kratzer.

Traffic incidents that generate a report from deputies showed increases in 2022 over 2021. Non-injury crashes increased 43%. Vehicle crashes with injuries increased by 40% (25-35), and hit-and-run collisions without injuries increased by 29% (24-31).

Assault reports increased from 18 to 31, or 72%.

Shoplifting reports were up by 61% (18 to 29).

Identity theft and fraud/scams showed slight decreases year over year.

The major crime indicators were relatively consistent year to year except for burglary, which increased 54% from 50 to 77 incidents.