2017 Rye Police Department Overview By the Numbers

Time for some excitement. The 2017 Rye Police statistics are finally available (after a FOIL – don’t ask)! Let’s not delay any further.

Topping the list, there was a total of 30,656 calls for service – up slightly from 2016, covering many categories. For example, Rye Police officers performed 11,824 property checks last year and also responded to 741 burglar alarms. They assisted in 1,116 medical emergencies, responded to 320 City Code violations and 357 motor vehicle accidents. They“assisted”783 citizens.

What you really want to know, of course, is how many parking tickets did Parking Enforcement Officers and others write. Answer: 10,825, up about 8 percent. That should help at City Hall where they are looking under worn rugs and old air conditioning units for ways to balance next year’s budget.

Now for the bad stuff. Traffic enforcement. 1,292 summonses for disobeying signs or devices: 1,113 citations for faulty or non-existent equipment (taillights and such). More than 800 motorists were caught operating a vehicle without a license and/or registration, 662 were caught speeding. It might surprise some that 77 drivers ran a red light and 59 ignored a stop sign. No separate statistic is reported for how many motorists ignore a pedestrian in a crosswalk, but pedestrians know it is a very big number.

Apparently, citizens who operate boats on the Sound and in the harbors were relatively well-behaved; there were 28 navigation law violations, a 50 percent drop.

Once again, one statistic stands out among all the others: cell phone violations: 253. RPD opened 499 general and 43 youth investigations last year. Rye continues to be one of Westchester’s safest municipalities; however, 222 people managed to be arrested, down about 20 percent.

• <Compiled by Tom McDermott>