Provided by, Picayune Police Chief Joe Quave,

Picayune Police Officers made 742 arrests in 2022 compared to 429 in 2021. The top three increases in order were;

Warrant Arrests (84), Drug Arrests (42), and DUI Arrests (36).

 

The establishment of our Neighborhood Enhancement Team, proactive policing and increased traffic stops compared to 2022 to 2021 contributed to the increase in all three areas.

We responded to 17,898 calls for service in 2022 compared to 18,068 in 2021. The areas that saw major differences were increased direct patrols (128), a decrease in domestic calls (107), a decrease in neighborhood complaints (109), and a decrease in vehicle accidents (136). There was a slight increase in auto burglaries (13) compared to the previous year but a decrease in auto thefts (28).

I highly encourage the public to report any type of suspicious activity. Often people dismiss it or don’t want to bother us, but we can usually deter crime or solve it by responding to those type calls and identifying individuals. To prevent being a victim of an auto burglary we suggest keeping valuables out of sight and locking your vehicle. Suspects usually check for unlocked vehicles and locking it is a deterrent.

In reference to calls responding to violent crime: there was a decrease in Homicides – 0 in 2022 compared to 2 in 2021, a decrease in shootings – 2 in 2022 to 8 in 2021 and a decrease in Robberies – 2 in 2022 to 5 in 2021.

A few goals we have for 2023 are to send more officers to specialized training such as accident reconstruction, reestablish the Police Explorer program, start a Citizens Police Academy in the spring and continue community events from 2022 such as Layups at the Link, National Night Out and Coffee with a Cop. We are also maintaining state accreditation and are currently in the self-assessment phase of national accreditation.

Our team of officers are committed to making Picayune safe and serving this city. We can’t do it without support from our community and consider the relationships that we have extremely important. We will continue to look for ways to engage in 2023 and look forward to another year of serving this community.