DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — After surveying the community and reflecting on statistics from 2022, the Decatur Police Department prioritized traffic safety enforcement and violent crime enforcement in 2023. 

Decatur Police Chief Shane Brandel says while road safety is always a priority for DPD, the department dedicated extra resources to traffic enforcement. 2023 has the lowest number of traffic crashes since 2015, aside from 2020. Brandel says the drop in 2020 was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Key violations are speeding, cellphone, DUI, those contribute to your crashes over and over again," said Brandel. "We focus on that for two reasons. One, so we can have safer roadways for everybody, and people feel safe while they're driving and two, to reduce those crashes because that has an impact in our community."

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a 107% increase in enforcement stops for speeding. Enforcement stops for illegal cell phone use increased by 85%. 

The other area of priority for the police department is tackling violent crime. Chief Brandel says 2021 was a peak year for shootings, and that number dropped by 41% in 2023. While Brandel is happy to see the number drop, he says there's still a lot more work to do, especially when it comes to young offenders. 

"When you have juveniles that that are committing shootings, that's concerning, and it being so common," said Brandel. "Not only they are they the the offenders in these, but they're also the victims and these are young teenagers that are involved in this. "

Brandel says going into 2024, the department hopes to build more connections with community organizations that can help engage young adults and keep them on the right path. 

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