Milford Police present 2024 annual report highlighting staffing changes, training and low use-of-force incidents

Chief Mills, Milford Police Department, presented the department’s 2024 annual report at the March 18 Milford City Council meeting, reviewing staffing changes, program expansions and key operational metrics.

The report summarized why the year matters to public safety and to Council: it documents arrests, traffic enforcement and internal reviews that the department says help it measure performance and identify training needs.

Chief Mills said the department added its first school resource officer after partnership talks with Milford Schools and received a donation from the Cincinnati Rotary Club to place automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in patrol units. He also reported that Project Lifesaver training was expanded to include every officer so the department can respond to missing clients 24/7.

"As usual, the men and women of the Milford Police Department rose to the challenge and took advantage of every opportunity to provide our community with excellence in policing," Chief Mills said. He summarized department statistics in the report: "we patrolled 129,000 miles, received 50 hours of in service training, wrote 12,976 reports, made 469 arrests, conducted 3,194 traffic stops, investigated 276 auto accidents, and issued 18 51 citations." (Phrase in the original report appears as read; the citation figure as read in the transcript is unclear.)

On use of force, Mills characterized response-to-resistance incidents as a low-frequency, high-risk activity that the department reviews closely. He said officers detained 3,663 people in 2024 and that there were four responses to resistance. Mills said internal reviews found no complaints resulting from those incidents; the department reported attempts at verbal and physical de-escalation in each instance and said no consistent pattern (by officer, location, or other factor) could be identified from four incidents.

On pursuits, Mills said the department initiated no vehicle pursuits in 2024 and that, historically, about 78% of pursuits initiated by the department over the prior eight years were terminated in the interest of safety. He described administrative reviews completed after any pursuit and said emergency vehicle operations are covered in annual training.

Mills also discussed internal affairs metrics: the department initiated two citizen-complaint investigations and two internal complaints in 2024. He said sergeants monitor officer-initiated contacts daily to look for bias-based profiling and that annual reviews showed no indication of impropriety.

Looking ahead, Mills listed 2025 goals the department plans to pursue: develop a drone program (a donated drone is on order), improve pedestrian safety and crosswalks (including work tied to a Main Street/Lila Avenue streetscaping project), expand public messaging on pedestrian safety, and continue efforts to reduce complaints about homelessness encampments at Terrell Park using a multidisciplinary approach.

Council members asked procedural questions about how the report is posted and whether recordings would be available; Mills directed members and the public to the department’s full report on the city website and provided his email for follow-up.

The presentation closed without a vote; the report itself was informational and no formal council action was recorded on the annual report.