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Police report shows crime declines; ShotSpotter credited with arrests, while feral-cat dispute prompts calls for coordinated policy
Summary
Police Chief Keller reported year-to-date decreases in most Part I crimes compared with recent averages, said ShotSpotter has aided arrests and reduced injuries from gunfire, and detailed a fraught discussion about feral-cat colonies where volunteers and impacted neighbors disagree; the board directed staff to develop options with county partners.
Police Chief Keller told the Board of Aldermen that year-to-date Part I FBI-reportable crimes are down in most categories compared with a three-year average, citing reductions in homicides, reported rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults. The chief cautioned that year-to-date comparisons can fluctuate but said the department’s data show a meaningful downward trend in violent crime categories.
Keller also briefed the board on the city’s ShotSpotter deployments (operational since March 2024), saying the system detects gunfire rapidly and helped the department make 11 arrests and recover 11 firearms during activations he reviewed. He said ShotSpotter activations now arrive to officers in roughly 47 seconds on average, enabling quicker responses; the chief noted that about 75% of shots-fired activations during the monitored period had no citizen 911 call, meaning the acoustic detection led police to incidents they otherwise might not have known about.
A lengthy exchange followed about feral cats, trap-neuter-release (TNR) volunteer efforts and neighborhood nuisance complaints. Chief Keller and the city attorney explained current ordinance language: feeding a feral cat does not itself violate city law, but caretakers can become responsible custodians under nuisance/abandonment rules; enforcement is difficult because proof that a particular feeder’s cats caused a specific nuisance can be hard to establish and the shelter system is frequently at capacity. Volunteers said they have spayed and neutered many animals and often finance trips to veterinary partners; some aldermen urged enforcement and others warned that cracking down could stop TNR volunteers and increase the population. The board asked staff to convene stakeholders, including county partners and volunteer groups, and return with coordinated policy options.
Chief Keller also summarized patrol workload and resources: roughly 65 sworn officers handle the bulk of calls; animal control is a very small team but manages roughly 3.1% of CAD-generated workload. He said the department uses crisis-intervention training and a co-responder program to divert many mental-health crisis calls from jail and that grant funding for the co-responder work is expiring and staff are exploring continuation options.
The board did not adopt new animal-control ordinances at the retreat but asked staff to prepare options for ordinance changes, enforcement approaches, and possible joint city–county solutions to address shelter capacity and TNR coordination.
