Prosecutor: Local arrest numbers up

The year 2016 may be a leap year, but it was during 2015 that both the Greencastle City Police and Cloverdale Police departments took big leaps in felon and misdemeanor arrests.

Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter pointed to those leaps when he released the crime and traffic infraction statistics for calendar year 2015.

Bookwalter offered 2015 figures and how they compare with 2014 for the four major police departments serving Putnam County.

"For the second year in a row," the prosecutor said, "the Greencastle Police Department is the lead agency in the county in terms of felony and misdemeanor arrests. They make more than double arrest of any other agency.

"Additionally, GPD has kept up this pace in spite of the fact that it has been down four officers due to retirements," Bookwalter added.

That will now change as four GPD officers were among seven throughout the county who graduated Friday from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy at Plainfield.

The other agency that has show a dramatic increase in arrests, Bookwalter pointed out, is the Cloverdale Police Department.

"Cloverdale has more than doubled its arrests from 2014 to 2015," the prosecutor noted.

Arrests for felonies and misdemeanors by department include:

-- Greencastle Police Department, 359 arrests for 2014 and 395 during 2015.

-- Putnam County Sheriff's Department, 185 arrests for 2014 and 209 during 2015.

-- Indiana State Police, 146 arrests for 2014 and 177 during 2015.

-- Cloverdale Police Department, 54 arrests for 2014 and 117 during 2015.

Traffic infraction statistics by department include:

-- Greencastle Police Department, 141 citations for 2014 and 181 during 2015.

-- Putnam County Sheriff's Department, 750 citations for 2014 and 243 during 2015.

-- Indiana State Police, 842 citations for 2014 and 860 during 2015.

-- Cloverdale Police Department, 53 citations for 2014 and 290 during 2015.