Evansville police report: 52 ‘shots fired’ runs in month; commissioners ask for expanded data

Commissioner Rodney Culver reported data on gun-violence calls at the Aug. 28 meeting, saying the Evansville Police Department recorded 52 total “shots fired” dispatch runs for the month and 14 that generated case numbers.

Culver said the South Sector—an area commissioners said is predominantly African American—accounted for 23 of the month’s shot-fired runs and that nine of those generated case numbers. He cautioned that because many incidents occur at night or from vehicles, witness descriptions are often limited to a vehicle description and that license-plate information or suspect identification is frequently unavailable.

Why it matters: Commissioners said even modest declines still represent meaningful harm. Culver noted recent months had higher totals and called any shooting one too many. He offered to expand the monthly stat sheet with additional categories, including domestic violence, suicides and other incident types that can inform prevention work.

Follow-ups requested: Commissioners asked for more detail about the GBI program’s interventions and suggested staff include information on which community programs are active in prevention. Culver said he would work on adding more statistics and will accept commissioner requests by email between meetings.

Limitations: Culver emphasized that not all “shots fired” runs result in victim reports and that many calls yield only shell casings or vehicle descriptions; he said that makes suspect identification and accurate demographic breakdowns difficult while investigations are ongoing.

Next steps: Commission members asked Culver to provide a stat sheet with additional breakdowns and to coordinate data on community intervention programs for future meetings.