Jamestown’s crime rate has reached its highest level since 2014 — but is the city truly unsafe?

It’s an important question to consider as we enter an election year and an issue that voters should keep in mind as they hear from Mayor Eddie Sundquist and his challenger, Republican City Councilwoman Kim Ecklund, between now and November. That conversation should retain some nuance.

Crime rates grab a lot of headlines, but can be misleading. Crime reached a recent peak of 47.8 violent crimes per 1,000 city residents back in 2014 and had, in the years since, abated somewhat in 2018 (42.88). Since then it has vacillated between roughly 45 and 47 violent crimes per 1,000 residents, rising to 47.65 in 2022. But, the increase in crime rate has more to do with Jamestown’s continuing loss of population from 29,562 in 2017 to 28,393 in 2022. The actual number of index crimes each year is remarkably similar — 1,380 in 2017, 1,260 in 2018, 1,333 in 2019, 1,371 in 2020, 1,301 in 2021 and 1,353 in 2022.

Jamestown police are arresting more people (10.95%) and responding to more incidents than at any time over the past five years (35,247 calls a year). Despite struggles to fill positions the Jamestown Police Department is busier than at any other time in its history. The recent hiring of two additional officers will help on all fronts.

Two statistics are cause for alarm, however.

The number of crimes involving guns as well as gun seizures — raw numbers not tied to population — is staggering. The annual report showed a 30.8% increase in cases involving the reported use of a firearm in 2022 as well as 24 confirmed shootings in the city while the seizure of firearms by the police department increased 60% from 2021 to 2022. Over five years, gun seizures have increased 49.2% while weapons law offenses increased 40.2% in 2022 and 62.6% compared to the five-year average. Simply stated, there are too many firearms being used in crimes in a city of Jamestown’s size. Police Chief Tim Jackson said the department plans to conduct more targeted patrols in areas with higher crime and use GIVE funding for hotspot and micro hotspot policing in targeted areas.

City residents should fully support those efforts.

Also troubling is the increase in calls for domestic incidents, which increased 14.8% in 2022. Domestic incidents accounted for 2,182 police responses last year compared to the five-year average of 1,901 incidents. That means there are families — often with children — living in tense, violent situations that tend to perpetuate themselves generation after generation. The increase in these situations is disturbing on many levels.

What should we make of these numbers? For the vast majority of Jamestown residents, this is still a nice place to live, work and raise a family. But we must realize that for too many Jamestown residents in some neighborhoods where things are more dangerous. Poverty and drugs are leading to dangerous and, at times, heartbreaking situations.

And that, in our opinion, is where Sundquist and Ecklund should focus their search for solutions to crime in Jamestown.