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Oak Ridge police credit increased traffic enforcement as crime and crash rates fall
Summary
Police Chief Robin Smith said targeted, data‑driven traffic enforcement has coincided with a drop in crashes and a projected 17% decline in reported serious crimes compared with last year; the department emphasized community engagement and school resource officers as part of the approach.
Police Chief Robin Smith presented midyear and year‑to‑date outcomes tied to the department’s strategic plan, saying a data‑driven, time‑and‑place approach focused traffic enforcement where crashes and crimes clustered. Smith said officers moved from more verbal warnings to written warnings and citations to improve compliance and that the change coincided with improved public‑safety metrics.
“If we continue the trend that we've seen in the first 0.75 of the fiscal year, group a offenses will be reduced by 17% from last year,” Chief Smith said, referring to reported serious crimes such as assault, burglary, theft and similar offenses. He also reported the department is on track for a roughly 5.4% reduction in crashes compared with the prior year and that the clearance rate remains about 57.5%.
Council members thanked chief and staff for community outreach work and for maintaining school resource officers in every school. Smith said retention is improving and the department hopes to meet a strategic target of turnover around 10% for the fiscal year; promotions have recently filled supervisory vacancies.
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