Amid a continuing reduction of crime in Springfield, gun violence remains a problem.
That’s why the Springfield Police Department is making efforts to lower rates of gun violence a yearlong focus in 2024. The police are doing away with the quarterly crime prevention focus structures of the past couple of years.
In his Feb. 26 presentation of the police department’s 2023 annual report to the Springfield City Council, Police Chief Paul Williams touted an overall decrease in crime. Williams acknowledged ongoing challenges and laid out plans for the year ahead.
“I hope it keeps going down,” Williams said. “I don't know when we're going to reach that threshold, that benchmark. We can't eliminate all crime, but certainly, it is a positive trend moving forward.”
Gun theft down, guns seized up
Though down over 2022, Williams said Springfield's 319 shots fired calls in 2023 continue a “roller coaster of ups and downs.” The total number of people shot has similarly fluctuated over the past four years.
Williams credited a six-year low in the number of handguns being stolen from vehicles to public education efforts. One hundred sixty-one guns were reported stolen in 2023, compared to 228 in 2020.
“Still too many, but less guns being stolen out of cars,” Williams said. “I hope that means people are keeping them secured, and not leaving them where they can fall in the hands of criminals.”
That trend continued in January, with the least amount of guns stolen from cars (10) in the last eight years, according to Williams.
Springfield police seized 266 illegal guns in 2023, up from 88 in 2020.
Three of four focus efforts led to drops in crime
In the first three quarters of 2023, SPD’s focus on robbery, sexual assaults and theft from vehicles, respectively, yielded significant reductions in those crimes. Robbery decreased by 33%, sexual assaults by 62% and theft from vehicles by 42%.
The quarterly results translated into overall decreases in each type of crime at year’s end.
“The first year we did this, it seemed like after we quit focusing, we seemed to have a jump,” Williams said. “It did not happen this year. We continued to see those decreases throughout the year.”
Initially, that trend continued with SPD’s fourth quarter focus on domestic assaults, but a spike in domestic violence incidents in December resulted in virtually no change in levels of domestic violence over the same timeframe in 2022.
“But if you look at the number from ‘21, we are moving in the right direction,” Williams said. “So minimal change, certainly can do more along those lines, and we'll continue to focus on that as part of our crime efforts moving forward.”
In addition to continuing enforcement efforts that tripled the number of guns seized in 2023 over 2020, public engagement and education will play pivotal roles in reducing gun violence in the year ahead, the police chief said.
Williams is hopeful that the newly-formed Gun Safety and Violence Collaborative, of which SPD is involved in, will help drive down the number of crimes involving guns, particularly among the youth. In addition to law enforcement, the collaborative is comprised of members from the faith, mental health, social services, schools and business communities.
“The one crime that continues to keep me up at night, and really affect our community as a whole is gun violence, in any way, shape, or form,” Williams said.
Amid the year-long focus on gun violence, Williams said that police will continue to show attention to “trending crimes that pop up.”
Violent crime steady amid decrease in property crime
Chief Williams said the overall decrease in crime was the result of a significant decrease in property crime, as violent crime saw minimal change in 2023 and crimes against society were up.
Crimes against property were down about 16% in Springfield in 2023, thanks to sizable declines in burglary, robbery and theft.
“Our focus on those categories that drive a lot of the crime in our community continues to show very positive results both from community engagement and enforcement efforts,” Williams said.
Though most crimes categorized as crimes against society were down — including pornography, prostitution and animal cruelty — weapons law and drug equipment violations gave way to an overall 2.8% increase.
Violent crime, or crimes against persons, decreased by 0.8% in 2023, led by a significant decrease in aggravated assaults. The number of simple assaults in Springfield, however, saw a sizable increase.
“One area of concern — simple assaults, up 16%,” Williams said. “That's personal conflict, which we are seeing an increase, people just not getting along. Something that we continue to respond to, and we're hoping that people can resolve those conflicts without resorting to violence.”
Police Department to implement new recruitment strategies
In an effort to combat staffing shortages that have plagued the Springfield Police Department for years, the department is expanding marketing efforts and implementing new recruitment strategies.
As of the end of January 2024, SPD was short 57 sworn officers. The goal, Williams said, is to bring that figure down to a normal level of 20-25 vacancies. Though academy classes are attracting “higher-quality” applicants, enrollment still falls well below the maximum class size of 35 people.
As a part of SPD’s new recruitment campaign, the department is offering a $5,000 incentive for new recruits and $10,000 for lateral hires and partial student loan reimbursement
“I'm not aware of any other law enforcement agency in the area doing that,” Williams said. “So hopefully, those couple things will set us apart.”
In addition, SPD is researching daycare options to attract and retain officers. Only the San Diego and St. Louis County police departments boast such programs.
“I lose officers every year who — not just women who have kids, but men who have families and go, ‘I just need to step away, because we can't afford it, or we can't find viable options based on my work schedule,’” Williams said.
The police department is also reviewing and revamping hiring processes to open the door for a wider range of applicants and former SPD officers, as well as increasing internship opportunities.
Other highlights of 2023
Opioid overdoses that SPD responded to in 2023 declined significantly over the previous two years, from 550-plus to 347. The decline in overdoses brought about a decline in overdose fatalities. In 2021, SPD reported 61 overdose deaths; in 2022, there were 16.
“Still too many, but absolutely a positive direction,” Williams said.
He attributed a drop in the amount of naloxone nasal spray (commonly branded Narcan) administered by officers due to the public availability of the overdose-reversal drug.
Williams is encouraged by the SPD and Burrell Behavioral Health co-responder program, in which officers and mental health professionals responded to 751 incidents, and hopes to find the means to continue and possibly expand the grant-funded program.
Though police dispatchers aren’t yet able to assign calls to Burrell Behavioral Health professionals, Williams said that co-responders have been listening to the police radio, and are able to respond to certain incidents without police.
Marijuana seizures increase after legalization
In 2023, Springfield police seized more than 475 pounds of marijuana illegally transported from out of state to be distributed illegally, compared to less than 88 pounds in 2022.
“We saw that number increase dramatically — over five times the amount of marijuana seized — unfortunately, proving my prediction that the black market wouldn't go away, it would increase once we legalized [it] because there's just people that do not want to go and buy something legally at a dispensary,” Williams said.
SPD’s 2023 annual crime report can be found on the Springfield Police Department’s website.
