REPORT: Benton County Sees Big Increase In 2020 Calls For Service

The Benton County Sheriff's Office released their annual report for 2020 which showed a huge increase in calls for service from 2019.

According to the report, calls to the office were roughly 15,650. In 2019 the office received roughly 15,400--or nearly 250 less. However, if you compare 2020 to 2018 and 2017, the calls for service are roughly the same.

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The sheriff's office presents the annual report to the Benton County Commissioners each year. According to Sheriff Troy Heck, "The purpose of this report is to provide a broad overview of the activities conducted in the office to help strengthen communication and awareness of our services to the people of Benton County."

Other figures from the report show increases in cases assigned to detectives and 911 calls in the PSAP.

The office did see a decrease in civil process service, jail average daily population, arrest warrants and ICRs by year.

The top 5 most committed crimes of 2020 in Benton County in order from most to least include; theft, domestic abuse, fraud, harassment and DUI.

According to the report, "the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic touched all operational areas of the Benton County Sheriff's Office in 2020. In every function of this office, adjustments were made to business as usual to minimize COVID exposure potential for our staff while still providing the public safety services our community required."

Because of COVID-19 deputies were forced to cancel some of their public outreach activities for the year. Programs like Police Activities League and youth ATV classes were canceled because of pandemic restrictions. However, they were able to keep the DARE program going despite local schools following distance learning models.

You can check out the full detailed report on Benton County's website.